The Kyuuketsuki
by Tsukiko AlienWitch
Summary: A TMM version of The Mummy with Pai and Lettuce playing as Rick and Eve and Kisshu as the mummy. Kisshu was cursed with the ritual of the Kyuuketsuki. 500 years later, a librarian Lettuce and bounty hunter Pai awaken him and they must stop him.
1. Prologue: Legend of the Kyuuketsuki

**A/N: Hi everyone!! I'm sorry for not updating my stories in such a long time (I failed to mention this in the chapters of my other stories)! I also have been watching a few movies, The Mummy included and have been writing a lot for this story. I just have to let these chapters out! Just a few warnings to give out though. I have used some lines directed from the movie and some of the events and lines will be showing up in later chapters as well. I changed a few things to be different from the movie but not a whole lot.**

**I do NOT own TMM or the songs I used in my stories, or the movies I use. Thank you all for the wonderful reviews for my other stories. Please keep them coming because I love reviews and I hope that you will bestow that much as reviews for this story as well. Or more. Thank you and please enjoy!**

Prologue: Legend of the Kyuuketsuki

Ancient Japan, Onogoroshima

**Onogoroshima****…**

**Crown jewel of Emperor Sakana…**

**Home to Prince Kisshu, Emperor's ward and descendant of Izanami, goddess of Yomi…**

**Birthplace of Lady Ichigo, Emperor's mistress. No other man was allowed to touch her.**

Lady Ichigo finally climbs the last fleet of stairs of the tower of Izanagi and turns to her left towards the Shoji doors. She pushes them open and closes the doors behind her once entered. Across from her is another shoji door that leads to the outside and a shrine up against the wall halfway towards those doors, but she walks towards the small shrine instead and sits down before it. She lights the incense and prays. During the middle of her prayer, something moves in the shadows. She already knows what it is as she finishes her prayer. She shifts her body to the back of the room and there in the shadows stands Kisshu, gazing at her with eyes full of love and care he has for her. She couldn't help but smile in his presence.

Ichigo stands up and walks across from the Shoji doors she entered to the other Shoji door. She opens it door and stands by the door frame to gaze up at the beautiful full moon and to breathe in the fresh air of spring. From the view, she can see how the glow of the moon shines across the land and the cherry blossoms in full bloom below.

When Ichigo turns around back to Kisshu, he's already by her side. He grasps her hand and lifts it up to his mouth.

**But for their love, they were willing to risk life itself.**

Kisshu kisses her palm as her other hand rises to his face and gently brushes the back of her finger against his cheek. Then he leans down to her face and softly presses his lips against hers. She kisses him back, her hand moving to the back of his head to push him closer. They kiss again and again. Their hands continue to grasp the other as Kisshu's free hand smoothes its way to Ichigo's hair. Her hair is up in pigtails, an unusual hair style, and his hand goes to one ribbon and starts to undo it.

_Bam_

Both Kisshu and Ichigo stop and turn towards the shoji doors across from them. They appear startled and a bit surprised to hear that. Kisshu lets go of Ichigo and rushes to the rail. He looks down and he sees two guards outside the door. He knows who those guards belong to.

Then they both hear, _"Ichigo!!"_ It's Emperor Sakana.

Ichigo quickly rushes to the shrine and there's a candle. She lights it and blows out the match. She turns to Kisshu and motions him to hide. He rushes back to the corner of the room where the darkness can still hide him as Ichigo tries to look like she's praying.

Within moments, the shoji doors suddenly open and Ichigo looks startled, not by the fact that it is the emperor but because he opened the door so quickly and with so much force like he's angry. His eyes appear angry as well. He stares down at Ichigo and walks towards her.

He asks, _"Who has touched you?"_ He points to her hair, at where the loose ribbon hangs on her pigtail.

Ichigo's hand rises to the pointed pigtail and gasps in surprise of the feel of the loose ribbon. She looks back at the emperor in a hint of fear but now she sees something else. Her eyes look towards what's behind the emperor and he fallows her gaze. When he turns around, he sees Kisshu standing behind him, glaring. When the emperor turned completely towards him, Kisshu grasps the emperor's sword and pulls it out. He points it at the emperor and Ichigo goes to her sleeves while the emperor is distracted.

"_Kisshu!"_ the emperor exclaims. Ichigo takes out a dagger and quietly stands up._ "My son!"_

Ichigo raises the dagger and thrusts it down the emperor's back. The emperor screams out in agony as he begins to fall to the floor. Kisshu slices him midway. As the emperor continues to scream and fall to the ground, Kisshu and Ichigo stab him multiple times – blood spraying on their kimonos and faces.

_Bam_

Both Kisshu and Ichigo stand up from the sound of that and they both have an idea who that is as the emperor's corpse lies on the ground.

"_Emperor's samurai,"_ Kisshu mumbles.

Ichigo runs to the open doors that the emperor entered from and runs to the rail. She looks down and she sees the samurai from the outside climbing up the stairs. Quickly, she turns to Kisshu and runs back inside. She closes the doors and locks it. She stands in front of Kisshu and grabs his sword. She tells him, _"You must go! Save yourself!"_

He tells her, _"No!"_

"_Only you can resurrect me!"_

Kisshu stares at Ichigo in shock then. For being a descendant of Izanami, there have been beliefs that Kisshu hold powers, one of which he can raise people from the dead. Ichigo never really believed that, until recently. Kisshu is surprised that she mentioned that.

Then they could hear the samurai coming closer. Kisshu grasps Ichigo's hands and tells her, _"I won't leave you!"_ But she just pushes him through the open shoji doors to the outside.

Ichigo's eyes reveal to him pain of the separation but also her belief and trust in him. Her hand rises to his face and she uses the back of her fingers to gently brush against the skin of his cheek. She whispers, _"I love you."_ His eyes look even more tragic from her words. She didn't waste time to pull her hands back as she closes the shoji doors in his face. She also locks it when Kisshu tries to get back in. She tells him through the doors, _"Go!"_ Then doors across from Ichigo are hit by the samurai, an attempt to open them. Both her and Kisshu don't have a lot of time.

Through the doors, Kisshu quickly tells Ichigo, _"You shall live again. I WILL resurrect you."_ By the time, Ichigo look back at the doors to at least see his shadow, she sees him running to the corner, where he cannot be seen.

Then the shoji doors burst open and Ichigo turns around to see the samurai's coming in. First they look at her and were surprised to see the blood on her but when they look down at the ground, they are shocked to see their emperor dead.

Ichigo tells them, _"My body is no longer his kingdom."_ Then she raises the sword in her hand and thrusts it down upon herself.

Kisshu, who was watching the shadows, sees his beloved stab herself and looks away as her body falls to the ground, dead.

**To resurrect Ichigo, Kisshu broke into her casket and stole her body. They raced over miles of water and into the deepest of forests, taking Ichigo's corpse to the island ****Yomotsuhirasaka, the entrance of Yomi and where Kisshu's dark powers are at his strongest.**

**For his love, Kisshu dared Izanami's anger by going deep into the entrance where he took the black Scroll of Izanami from its holy resting place. Ichigo's soul already rests in the dark clutches of Izanami, her body washed from blood and her orifices are blocked with cotton.**

Kisshu lays the scroll on the table next to Ichigo's corpse. He unravels it and begins reading the writing. He chants the words over and over, the fire goes in and out from the gust of wind within the room, and an eerie feeling fills the room. He ignores what's happening around him to continue as the chanting begins to work.

The shadows in the corners began to form shapes of demons, their claws reaching our or their tentacles wiggle. But one shadow moves father than the others. It looms over the table Ichigo's body rests but stops under her body. As Kisshu reads the last of it, he looks up to see the shadow cover Ichigo's body from under her and completely cover her body before dissolving inside. Her eyes shot open and she took breath, gasping for the first time since she died.

**Ichigo's soul had come back from the dead.**

Her body was shaking as Kisshu took out a dagger. Her eyes look up at him as he raises it over her heart. Right when he was going to stab her, two samurai barge into the room and stop him.

**But the emperor's samurai fallowed Kisshu and stopped him before the ritual could be completed.**

Ichigo's body stopped shaking and the shadow that dissolved into her body appears back. It started to rewind of how it got to Ichigo's body as Kisshu watches in terror. The shadow released Ichigo's body and went back into the shadows, the demon claws and tentacles fading away as well.

_"NO!!!"_

**Kisshu was condemned to be buried alive through the ritual of the Kyuuketsuki, a ritual so evil it was never once been bestowed.**

Kisshu's blood was drained from him, enough for him to be weak but not enough to die just yet. They stabbed a wooden stake half way through his chest, just barely touching his heart. They beat him for days and because of his lack of blood, he was not able to defend himself. His bones were broken and his nights and days were only pain. On the day he was buried, he was to be sealed away in a coffin with the company of poisonous snakes, either to die of lack of oxygen or the poison of the snakes when they bit him.

**He was to remain sealed in his shrine at the mountain on ****Yomotsuhirasaka half way down from the entrance****, the undead for all of eternity. The priests of Emperor Sakana would never allow him to be released for he would arise a terrifying monster, a plague upon mankind, an unholy blood sucker with the strength of ages, power over the winds, and the glory of invincibility. **


	2. The Island Yomotsuhirasaka

**A/N: Hi everyone!! Man I'm on a role here! Mostly because I recently saw the movie and haven't stop writing for this story yet and since it was the willing vote in my poll, might as well continue it. Anyway! I have an announcement to give out that's really, really, REALLY important.**

**I am so sorry!! You all must be confused with some of the details in the prologue. Okay here are some facts! Izanami is the Goddess of Yomi, or the underworld. She was once the goddess of creation but after she died, she took over the underworld and went against her husband, Izanagi but that's a different fact. Yomotsuhirasaka is the entrance to Yomi and since I have no idea what it looks like, I decided to make it a small island with a huge mountain, white sands, and lots of vegetation. I picture the entrance to Yomi, or the main part of it on the top so Kisshu's shrine should be in between the solid ground and the top of the mountain. There are also stairs that leads up to the entrance, just to add that in. Anyway, **Onogoroshima is the first island that Izanami and Izanagi created and lived on during their married lives. That is also unknown of where the true destination is so I made it up.

Besides that, please enjoy!! I do NOT own TMM or the songs I use in my stories, or the movies I use. They all belong to their original owners. I just think of everything as if it were a play. Thank you all for the wonderful reviews so far and please keep them coming! I love reviews and sometimes, I get a bit discourage with the small amounts. Thank you please enjoy!!

Ch. 1: The Island, Yomotsuhirasaka

**Yomotsuhirasaka, 500 years later…**

"You let everyone call you 'Mumei'? Why?" Oni asks out of curiosity.

Pai sharpens his sword with his rock as he answers, "Because I have no last name so they prefer to call me that instead of my first name. I was an orphan. I never knew who my mother or my father was and never tried. Thus never knowing my surname. Only so few know my first name." He puts his rock sharpener away and pushes his sword back into its sheath. He checks to make sure that the rest of his weapons are where they're supposed to be as Oni puts on a small.

"Well I'm glad that you've told me. Now I can stop calling you 'Mumei'," he tells him, patting his shoulder.

Pai just looks at him blankly as he answers, "I rather doubt it." His voice sound like he doesn't believe Oni one bit.

Pai, or known as Mumei, a sword master working for the American army and Oni Akuma, a solider of the American army and apparently, Pai's friend. Both men are resting inside their tent on the island of Yomotsuhirasaka for some rest for the big battle at dawn, which won't be long now. But as Pai was going to reach for his canteen of water, he hears something. Oni did not.

"Must you have such little fate towards me, my friend?" Oni asks. But then Pai turns to him and holds his index finger in front of his lips.

"Shh.." he tells him. Oni looks at him in surprise as Pai grasps his sword and crawls to the exit of the tent. Oni quickly fallows behind him.

**For 500 years men and armies fought over this land, never knowing what evil lay beneath it.**

Pai steps out of the tent and examines the area. His eyes are slightly wide with shock as he continues to step out into the open. Oni soon fallows and his expression betrays how shock he is with the scene before him. When they stepped out, they see a bloody scene. Besides their own tent, there are other tents and they are decorated with blood. Bodies lay everywhere and there are blood splatters on the ground as well as weapons. Pai examines the scenes before him in confusion as Oni look scared.

"Wh-what the hell happened?" Oni asks.

Pai goes over to one body and kneels down before it. In the bodies back, there are shuriken sticking out. However, they appear to have penetrated the body deep into the flesh. Pai grabs one and pulls it out as hard as he can. He examines the shuriken.

Oni asks, "Is it the enemy's?"

"No," he answers. "I'm the only one who uses shuriken. If it was the enemy, they would have used bullets and I would have heard that a lot sooner." _'Whoever did this was silent,'_ Pai concludes in his thoughts.

Oni tells him, "There's a first time for everything. Maybe the guy who did this is their secret weapon." Then Pai hears something else.

Pai quickly turns around and throws the shuriken at Oni. Since Oni sees that, he ducks down as the shuriken ends up hitting a tree. Oni asks, looking up, "What are you mad?!" Right after he asked that, a bullet was heard and it hit the tree Oni was just in front of. If Oni was still standing, he would have been hit. Oni looks from the tree to where the bullet came from, where Pai's eyes are already gazing at. There they see boats filled with men holding guns coming towards them.

"There's the enemy," Pai tells him, standing up. He goes to his belt and takes out four shuriken. Six boats, four people in each. Easy shooting, it he didn't have only six shuriken.

Pai aims them at the four men who already have their guns ready and aiming at them. Direct hit and those four men fall into the water, dead. Oni goes to his belt and takes out his gun. He recklessly shoots out of fear and out of the six bullets he has, he only shot two. Eventually, those boats came to shore and those men jump off the boat and started shooting at both Pai and Oni. Oni ducks and starts running away. Pai ducks as well but he stays and takes out his sword.

When one man came at Pai with a sword as well, Pai instantly sliced him and the man dropped to the ground in half. Three more came and Pai was able to instantly kill them no problem. But then a gun aims at Pai's hand and it hits the sword from his grasp. Pai goes to his belt and takes out his last two shuriken. He aims and throws. Direct hit but there are still twelve men to go. At least he has six daggers.

Pai takes out three daggers and aims them at the soldiers coming at him. As they threw across the air, one hit the heart, one hit the skull in the middle of the eye, and the other hits collarbone. One man gets close to Pai and he had to quickly grab his fourth dagger to stab him in the chest. Pai pulls the dagger out and flips the man over. Another came and Pai throws the dagger at him. Hits the man in the stomach and he falls down backwards. Pai takes out his last two daggers and he aims them both at two men, one got hit but the other ducked and it missed. Great! Pai now has no weapons and there are still seven men left to go.

Pai goes to his pockets and belt for anything as the men aim their guns at him. When Pai finds one thing, he takes it out and it's a smoke bomb. He quickly throws it at the ground and the smoke bomb exploded. The warriors got confused and blinded by the smoke as Pai began to run pass the Shinto shrine entrance and up the one thousand steps of stairs as fast as he can while the smoke distracts the warriors. When he was up by at least five hundred steps, he starts yelling.

"Oni! Oni!!" he calls, but no answer. He stops and looks around for any signs of his companion but no sight.

However, in a tree not too far from him, Oni is holding onto the branch for dear life. When he sees Pai looking for him without much luck, he smirks evilly. "Good day to you, Mumei," he whispers.

Down at the bottom of the stairs, the smoke finally clears and the warriors can now see Pai on the stairs. When Pai looks down and sees that the warriors have noticed him, he forgets about looking for Oni.

"Shit," he mumbles as the warriors start to climb up the stairs or shoot him. Pai backs away when they tried to shoot him and looks to the side. He needs cover. He starts running in that direction and jumps over the bushes and passes the tree branches. The warriors start running up closer to him and pass Oni.

Pai keeps running and it appears that he's running through a path. That's interesting and perfect. It's interesting that there is a hidden path here, covered by the protection of the vegetation but the perfect part is that if the warriors so happen to find him now, he's a sitting duck because he'll be an open target. The great news! They found him.

Pai hears the shouting of the enemy and turns around to see them yelling each other to come this way as some start climbing over the bushes and push aside the tree branches. Now he's in trouble. Especially when the path ends.

When Pai reaches the end of the trail, there's a shrine in front of him. The kind of shrine that's the size of a small house with chained life six doors. Pai looks to the left and sees more vegetation and starts running. But a bullet shoots at the ground before his feet stops him from entering that way. He turns to the right but another bullet stops him. He stands in front of the shrine doors and turns around to meet his fate as the warriors stop running and aim their guns at him. Pai grunts in anger as he stands where he is. Then something weird happens.

A strong gust of wind blows from behind Pai and hits the warriors. Their eyes get dry fast as small pieces of twigs or dirt hit them in the eye as well. Some walk backwards from the sudden irritation as Pai looks at the scene in confusion. He's supposed to be shot now. Then from the bushes closest to the enemy, snakes come slithering out and they bare fangs at the men, dripping with venom. Some got spooked and got away immediately, some got bitten and fall to their knees from the pain of the venom. Pai watches now in amazement of how now it looks like nature is protecting him. The remaining soldiers start running away for their life as the men who feel from the venom then get bitten at the neck and other limps of their bodies.

_Hahahaha_

Pai hears that and it distracts him from the weird scene. He turns around to where he hears the sound from and he looks up at the shrine before him. Then he starts to hear chanting in a language he knows of but doesn't speak or understand it; ancient Japanese.

Then the mood in the voice has changed.

"_P-Pai?"_

Pai's eyes widen in surprise as then he hears hissing. He looks down and he sees snakes baring their fangs at him. Instantly, he jumps up before they could bite him and he starts running. The snakes started to chase after him as the wind suddenly blows stronger. When he started to go down the stairs, the wind blew harder and for an moment, he flew up in the air. He ended up jumping over fifty stairs. If it weren't for his quick reflexes of landing on his hands and pushing himself up to do a flip, his feet would have landed on the edge of a step and he would have slipped and either twisted his ankle or worst, fall down and broke his neck.

When Pai finally landed on the safety of solid dirt ground, he didn't stop running. The wind died down the moment he got off those stairs. He ran all the way to the white sands and the blue waters. Meanwhile, in the dark shadows of the forests, there are men in black robes watching Pai leave.

**And for 500 years, we, the priests, descendants of the Emperor's samurai, kept watch.**

Right before Pai was going to dive into the waters, he stops running. He feels something and it's not the feeling he got when he thought he heard the wind call his name. It was the feeling of being watched. He turns around back to the forest. Besides noticing that the boats that the enemy came in are either gone or busted, he sees shadows.

One of the shadows he was looking at was one with tan skin. His black robes makes his skin look lighter but his blue eyes stand out on his face and his golden hair compliments the color and form of his face. Pai stares at him intensively.

One shadow reveals a shuriken, the same kind that killed Pai's men and asks, _**"Shall we kill him?"**_

The golden hair one answers, _**"No."**_

"_**Master Ryou!"**_

Ryou does not look at his comrades. His dark ice ocean eyes are glued to Pai. Pai stares at him a bit longer before jumping into the water and swim away.

Ryou tells his men, _**"The ocean will kill him."**_Him and his man stand their ground and watch as Pai swims his way back to land. Which happens to be hundreds of miles away.


	3. The Midorikawas

**A/N: I…cannot…believe…this!!**

**Taruto: Believe it, writer.**

**Tsukiko: -sees all of the TMM characters, or only the main ones- I'm going to faint.**

**Taruto: Well don't faint yet. Don't you have a scrip to hand out?**

**Tsukiko: Oh yeah. –takes out a list-**

**Taruto: You have a list?**

**Tsukiko: A list of the characters that are going to appear in a chapter that was inspired by the movie. –looks back at list- Now let's see… Lettuce and Keiichiro!! Are you here?**

**Lettuce and Keiichiro: -raises arm- Here!**

**Taruto: Only those two?**

**Tsukiko: Them and Dr. Shirogane but you said that only the main characters are here.**

**Taruto: Well the characters you like to use a lot. That includes Masaya, the Blue Knight, and Deep Blue.**

**Tsukiko: Well if they're here, can I kill two of them?**

**Taruto: Only two?**

**Tsukiko: Masaya stole Ichigo from Kisshu and the Blue Knight tried to kill him.**

**Taruto: Yeah, but Deep Blue ignored him, used him, abandoned him, and he did kill him. Depending on whether you won't to go with the anime or the manga version.**

**Tsukiko: Yeah, yeah, I know but in one of the ideas I have, he's not so much of a bad guy.**

**Taruto: You mean the one called 'Pos-**

**Tsukiko: -covers Taruto's mouth before he said it- Don't say it! It hasn't come out yet!**

**Kisshu: -his head right by my ear- Well when then? –I tense up and look at him- I should know when I have to act like a clueless person.**

**Taruto: More like a clueless idiot.**

**Kisshu: Hey! –Then I let out a big puff of steam. Both of them look at me as I faint- Ah! The writer! –Both Taruto and Kisshu start fanning me to wake up-**

**Lettuce: Excuse me, but can I have my script now?**

**Keiichiro: Mine as well. Isn't the chapter going to start soon?**

**Ichigo: I'll say this for her until she wakes up. Tsukiko does NOT own TMM, or us, or the songs she uses in her stories, or the movies she uses for inspiration. She just comes up with the different changes and the ideas. Thank you all for the wonderful reviews so far and we hope that you keep them coming. Thank you and please enjoy, nya!!**

Ch. 3: The Midorikawas

**A few weeks later…**

The delivery man closes his trunk and turns around to face a woman and a man. "Okay, that's all."

Both the man and the woman bow to him and the woman gives him a sweet smile. "Thank you for your services," she tells him.

The delivery man goes to the driver side of his truck and gets in. After that, he drives off as soon as his truck came roaring back to life.

The man, Dr. Shirogane looks at the woman and starts, "Now, Lettuce." She looks up at him as he tells her, "I want you to stay here and watch these antiques while I'm gone. I'm going to retrieve the checklist to see if we have everything."

Lettuce nods her head in understanding. "Yes, Doctor." Then he begins to walk off.

"Oh and Lettuce!" he calls before going into the museum. "Don't touch anything while I'm gone." Then he disappears into the museum. All Lettuce could do was cringe in embarrassment when he said that. Bad memories…

Dr. Shirogane is not only a scholar but he's also the owner of the Museum of Antiques in England. He is a middle aged man, possibly in his late thirties or early forties. His skin is as tan as baked wheat bread and his short black hair is silky and straight. He has brown eyes like melted chocolate on fresh fruit and he has the wisdom beyond his age. He's stern and a bit scary when he cracks but he is also kind and a good man. He just doesn't fool around when he's working.

Lettuce Midorikawa, a young lady of the early age of twenty and a worker for her guardian and mentor, Dr. Shirogane. Lettuce's favorite hobby is learning history and has memorized century's worth of histories in her highly intelligent mind. She has a slender, curvy body with skin as white as fresh milk. Her long light green hair is tied into two braids that just lightly reach her lower waist and her deep blue sea eyes hide behind her big round glasses. Since her parents died when she was little girl, Dr. Shirogane took care of her ever since. She's sometimes a big help to him. She remembers codes that he possibly forgotten, the history of each object in the museum, and the meetings Dr. Shirogane has. She is like his own littler personal planner.

Lettuce looks around at the ten crapes worth of ancient stuff surrounding her, along with some loose ones standing on top of the crapes or next to them. She's standing behind the museum and she's a bit excited, like a little kid on Christmas. She claps her hands together once and thinks, _'I wonder what kind of new and exciting antiques we have?'_ She looks over at one antique and her eyes sparkle. It's a light brown vase, probably like that through the ages of time it has lasted. It's about her waist height and it has dark brown markings on it. As she walks closer to the vase, she can see that it actually has drawings on it instead. Her smile brightens as she looks at the big drawing of a serpent and a man.

"Amazing," she mumbles, looking at how wonderfully craft the vase is. "This vase explains the encounter the storm god, Sosa no wo had with the eight head serpent. Then after killing the great serpent, not only did Sosa no wo marry the girl who was going to be eaten by the serpent but he also cut open the tail of the serpent and found a sword. He sent the sword to heaven to the god above and where his sister the sun goddess, Amaterasu Omikami is." Lettuce's smile brightens even more with excitement. "I wonder what else the vase would tell us."

"Are you sure with your decision?" Dr. Shirogane asks, talking to a grown man as he was walking back to where Lettuce is.

The man nods. "I had no choice or we would be in serious dept."

"Like you're not already."

The man walking with Dr. Shirogane is Keiichiro Midorikawa, Lettuce's brother. He's a tall man with long dark brown hair that's tied in a low pony tail. His eyes are like warm hot chocolate on a winter night. He's not too muscular or too skinny. He's just right with no access body fat. Like his sister, he has been raised by Dr. Shirogane since they're parents died but instead of thinking of researching history as a hobby, he prefers cooking and baking. He owns a café near the museum but it is in need of some serious work. When Keiichiro started his business, he had a very rough start and it appears that it's not going to change. He's half Japanese and half English, like his sister.

When Keiichiro looks up to see Lettuce happy with all of the new 'toys' the museum just received, he greets, "Lettuce, hello!"

When Lettuce turns around, she hits the vase. "Keiichiro-nii!" she lets out in surprise as the vase begins to fall. Both Dr. Shirogane and Keiichiro begin to panic. But Lettuce sees the vase as well. She catches it and puts it back on the crape. "Got it!" she yells. Both Keiichiro and Dr. Shirogane let out a sigh of relief. Then Lettuce begins to walk towards Keiichiro, only to slip on a piece of cardboard. "Uwaaa!!"

The cardboard goes flying through the air as Lettuce falls to the ground. The cardboard hits another vase and that begins to fall. Keiichiro quickly runs to it and catches it before it hit the ground. When he places that safely on the ground, Dr. Shirogane relaxes again. Lettuce stands up and asks, "Is everything okay?"

But Dr. Shirogane just tells her sternly, "Don't move, Lettuce!" Lettuce freezes where she is. He walks towards her and now she's a little nervous. He asks her, "Give me one good reason why I still have you working here?" Apparently he's upset, but nothing's broken.

_Crash_

Lettuce and Keiichiro look behind Dr. Shirogane and there are remains of a small green vase on the ground. Dr. Shirogane doesn't look because he looks like he's trying to hold in some type of anger. After seeing the vase, the air got really tense and a blue aura begins to appear from Dr. Shirogane's body. Both Lettuce and Keiichiro look at him and they're scared stiff. He still looks like he's trying to hold in his anger. He has a grin on but the corner of his mouth is twitching, as well as his eye.

"What does it look like?" he asks, very slowly.

Lettuce and Keiichiro are a bit too scared to answer but Lettuce eventually says, "I-I-I-It w-w-was a s-s-small green v-vase."

_Crack_

Lettuce and Keiichiro heard a loud crack coming from Dr. Shirogane and now they take steps back. When something like this happened, he blew, big time. He's always so hard working and serious but when he's cracked and pushed to the very edge of the edge, he becomes the devil and it's probably best to fill out your funeral plans right when you hear three cracks. Luckily for Lettuce and Keiichiro, they only heard one.

"Lettuce," Dr. Shirogane calls very slowly. She doesn't say anything. She only stands where she is, her whole body shivering in fear. Then he looks at her and demons begin to appear behind him. "Answer me. Why do I put up with you?"

Keiichiro looks at Lettuce cautiously and thinks, _'Whatever you do, Lettuce, don't push him!'_

Lettuce tries to calm down but she's still very nervous. She grabs a part of her skirt and begins to play with it to try and stay calm. "W-Well," she begins. "I remind you of all the meetings you have, when the deliveries come, I've memorized your history books A-Z, I can read, write, and speak ancient Japanese, and…" she's trying to think of more so that she won't be in too much trouble, but Dr. Shirogane doesn't seem pleased with the reasons she already gave.

"I still put up with you because your parents were my best friends!" he answers, causing Lettuce to flinch from her anger. "Izanagi rests their souls." Then he lets out a sigh and the demons begin to cease. But that still doesn't mean that he's calm. "Keiichiro!"

"Ah, yes?" he asks.

Dr. Shirogane tells him, "I know that you both are already suffering in dept but that vase was 3,000,000 dollars." Keiichiro turned to stone right there that's a lot of money. He looks at Lettuce and tells her, "It's only fair if you pay for it, right Lettuce?"

Lettuce nods in guilt and tears begin to run down her face. "Yes," she answers, full of shame.

Then Keiichiro remembers something. "Hold on!" he yells. Both of them, Lettuce losing her tears, look at him and he's rummaging through his pockets. He approaches both Lettuce and Dr. Shirogane as he takes out what's in his pocket. "Would this replace the vase?"

What he took out fascinated Lettuce and surprised Dr. Shirogane. What Keiichiro has in his hands right now is a golden pendant. But not just any pendant. A golden pendant with red stones on it. The stones almost look like buttons on the blotch. On the center of the blotch, there are two skinny long shape stones that look like a heart together. But right under it is a smaller stone that's in the shape of a heart. Then at the end of the blotch and right at the point of the heart are four small red stones that are in the shape of short lines. It's at least palm size and Lettuce couldn't help but raise her hands up to it.

She asks, "Where did you get this?" as Keiichiro puts the blotch in her hand.

Keiichiro answers, "I'll answer that later."

"But this is the blotch from the time period of Emperor Sakana's rule!" Lettuce quickly tells her brother. Keiichiro is no surprise to hear that.

"Emperor Sakana?! As in THE Emperor Sakana?!" he asks.

She looks up at him and answers, "Yes, one of the most richest and powerful emperors of the Japanese history." Lettuce looks back at the blotch and notes, "This blotch is suppose to unlock Emperor Sakana's most dangerous and terrible secrets. But it only works on the island of Yomotsuhirasaka."

Then Dr. Shirogane snatches the blotch right out of Lettuce's hand. Lettuce and Keiichiro look up and now Dr. Shirogane looks scarier than he did before. "Which is a myth," he tells them in a very stern and very cold voice. "The entrance to the underworld, Yomi does not exist. I will accept this as payment for the broken vase and I never want to hear you two talking about this again!" After that, he put the blotch in his pocket and he has his checklist in hand. "Lettuce, I wish for you to leave me so that I may check the antiques if we have everything and I want you to take your brother as well. You both have a lot to talk about that does not concern the blotch. Understand?"

After that, Lettuce nods like a little kid that just got smacking. "Yes, Doctor." Then she begins to walk away, with Keiichiro fallowing close behind her.

Dr. Shirogane watches them leave as he thinks, _'If you both had continue talking about this blotch and decide to pursue it, I would have no choice but to choose your fate.'_ After that, he looks at the remains of the stuff he has and the checklist in his hands.

Lettuce and Keiichiro were walking silently and uncomfortably towards the inside of the museum. Keiichiro looks at Lettuce at the corner of his eyes and he looks really guilty. When they reached the door, Lettuce let her brother in first and then herself. But as she closed the door behind her, Keiichiro lets out a sigh. "Sister, there is something I need to-"

He couldn't finish. Suddenly, Lettuce turns to him and her eyes are pleading. Keiichiro was caught off guard from that look. "Keiichiro, I need you to tell me where you found that blotch!"


	4. Mumei, nameless one

**A/N: Okay, everyone!! For this chapter, I need Lettuce…**

**Lettuce: Here!**

**Tsukiko: Keiichiro…**

**Keiichiro: Here!**

**Tsukiko: and Pai!**

**Pai: Present.**

**Tsukiko: Okay then. Here's your script for this chapter. –hands script to them-**

**Pai: -skimming through it and Taruto and Pai reading over his shoulder- I have a lot of dialogue.**

**Kisshu: You're making Pai talk a lot at one time in this chapter.**

**Tsukiko: He is one of the main characters for this story and I know that it's not his character but that's what showbiz is all about.**

**Ryou: When do I show up?**

**Mint: Do I or onee-sama show up at all in this story?**

**Tsukiko: You two should know already that, like Pudding and Taruto, you guys will show up in 'The Kyuuketsuki 2'. You two, along with Berry, are going to play the three bounty hunters who tried to kill the O'Connells at the beginning.**

**Mint: And die later on.**

**Tsukiko: -ignores them- And you, Ryou! You shouldn't be complaining since you showed up in 'You're a Girl'.**

**Ryou: Yeah, like two pages worth.**

**Tsukiko: It's better than nothing.**

**Pudding: Tsukiko onee-chan does NOT own TMM or the songs or the movies she uses in her stories, na no da. She only comes up with the ideas and changes for them, na no da. She is a bit sorry for Pai fans that she's going to have Pai onii-chan talk a lot in this story, na no da. Possibly, mostly this chapter, na no da. Thank you all for the awesome reviews and please keep them coming, na no da!!**

**Tsukiko: Thank you and please enjoy! **

Ch. 3: Mumei, nameless one

"This is the man you cheated it from?" Lettuce asks in shock, staring at the man across from her from the door of a bar. The man she is referring to is sitting at the counter of the bar and he looks like a drunk, slouching over and drinking a glass of whiskey in one gulp. The clothing he appears to be wearing looks dirtied and stained with alcohol and sweat. Even from far away and from behind, Lettuce can see that his long hair is messy and possibly covered with oil, dirt, and anything else she can think of. He probably hasn't bathed in weeks and has only been living in the bar and drink.

"Don't say that aloud!" Keiichiro whispers in a small amount of fear.

Lettuce turns to her brother and whispers back, "You promised that you wouldn't cheat in a card game anymore!"

"I couldn't help it," he told her innocently. "What was I suppose to do when he was on a winning streak and we needed the money? Trust me, he was a tough one. I had to use every expert trick in the book to at least get half of his winnings, along with the blotch that he threw in."

"He threw in the blotch?" she asks, more in disbelief. She looks back at the man and crosses her arms. "How can someone just throw in something as valuable as the blotch of Emperor Sakana?"

Keiichiro smiles. "See? I'm not the bad guy here?"

Lettuce looks back at him with slightly angry eyes, but he can see that only a small portion of her anger is towards him. Most of her anger must be towards the drunken man across from her. After glaring at her brother for a bit, she lets out a sigh and says, "Well let's go talk to him. Maybe he can tell us where he found that blotch."

Now he looks surprised. "You want me to go in there?"

"It's a thirty percent chance that he'll recognize you." But when she thinks more of the situation, she pauses for a moment before asking, "Was he drinking last night?" He nods. "Then it's a ten percent chance that he'll recognize you," she corrects. She's right and Keiichiro knows it. Lettuce goes walking into the bar and Keiichiro follows after her, making sure to stay behind her as they approach the drunken man. But as they slowly approach him, Lettuce had to ask, "What's his name?"

"Ahh," Keiichiro lets out, trying to remember. "I think everyone was calling him 'Mumei' when we were gambling."

Lettuce asks, "Mumei?! As in 'nameless one'?"

"Did someone call me?"

Both Lettuce and Keiichiro look up at the counter a few feet away and Pai is already looking at them with weary dark purple eyes. Now that he's looking at them, face to face, they can tell that his skin looks dirtied. Lettuce sees dirt stains on his face and all over his body. He has a long hair beard growing on his face along with a mustache over his top lip as well. When was the last time he shaved? Now that they are closer to him, he smells worst than any sewer full of old alcohol drinks that no one finished. When was the last time he took a bath?!

From only looking at him and hearing his voice, Lettuce can already tell that he must be an American. She tries to shake off the shock of his appearance and she says, "H-How do you do, mister?"

He answers, "I'm tired as all hell and drunk as well." Lettuce's eyes widen in his rudeness as he hits the bottom of the glass on the counter. He turns to the bartender and yells, "Another glass, Mark!"

The bartender, or Mark, turns to Pai and tells him, "You used the last of your money to pay for the last one! No more."

Then a hand hits the counter besides Pai. He looks up and he sees Keiichiro slapping money on the counter. "I'll pay," he tells the bartender. Lettuce looks at her brother in surprise as Pai raises a brow at him.

But Mark shrugs his shoulder and says, "Alright." He bends over to get more whiskey as Pai looks up at him with the same weary eyes.

"And you are?" Then he looks back at Lettuce. She gasps from his sudden attention and takes a step back, uneasy. "And who's the broad?"

Lettuce's eyes widen from that, almost like she just got insulted but Keiichiro quickly says, nervously as he sounds, "W-Well, my name is Keiichiro Midorikawa and this is my little sister," he goes over and puts his hands on Lettuce's shoulders, "Lettuce Midorikawa."

"Please to meet you, mister," she greets. She offers her hand to Pai but Mark delivers another whiskey and takes the money away. Pai's attention goes to the glass.

He picks it up and says, "Don't try to be kind to me, broad." Then he takes a gulp of his whiskey as Lettuce tenses up from behind rejection, like she was turned to stone.

As Lettuce tries to recover, Keiichiro says, "Listen, Mumei, we came to ask you about the blotch you gambled with last night."

Pai lowers the glass that still contains whiskey in it and he doesn't have a trance of emotion on his face. But he says, "Oh now I remember." Then he turns to Keiichiro and throws the rest of the liquid at Keiichiro's face.

Lettuce is startled once again as Keiichiro yells out, "Ow!!" Then he turns around and winces in pain of the alcohol in his eyes.

"Hey, Mumei!" Mark calls. Pai looks at him as he says, "Don't cause any rucas so early in the day, please." But Pai doesn't answer him.

He turns to Lettuce and asks, "Are you here to pay me back what he cheated from me?"

"No," she answers, now rummaging through her bag. She takes out a white handkerchief and hands it to Keiichiro. "Here!" Keiichiro sees it and takes it to wipe the rest of the alcohol out as Lettuce takes bold steps towards Pai. "We came to ask you about the blotch."

"No," Pai tells her.

Lettuce looks confused. "No?"

"For someone who, I can tell, looks like a bookworm, you already know what the blotch is, don't you? You only came to ask me about Yomotsuhirasaka."

Lettuce is surprise by how confident he is by just saying that name so boldly and so loud in a public area! She asks quickly and quieter, "How did you know that the blotch belongs in Yomotsuhirasaka?"

"Because when I arrived at Yomotsuhirasaka, my men decide to do a little treasure digging and that blotch was what I found."

"In Yomotsuhirasaka?"

"The very island."

"It's an island?"

"What did you think it was? A volcano?"

Lettuce's cheeks turn red from the shyness and she mutters, "Ah, n-no. I-It's just that no one has ever discovered it before. Yomotsuhirasaka is said to be a place where its location is unknown."

"Well my men discovered it," he tells her. "Every one of them died on that god forsaken island a day later."

"Then you are the only one who knows the location of Yomotsuhirasaka." Lettuce gets a little closer to him and pleads, "Can you please tell me where it is? The exact location, I mean."

Pai doesn't seem affected by her as he tells her, "If I tell you, you will forget it and if I write it down for you, you will clumsily lose it. The best course of action is for me to take you there, myself."

Lettuce's eyes widen in confusion instead of hurt from his words. Her shoulders rise up with excitement as she asks, "You mean you will take us to Yomotsuhirasaka?"

"Nope," he answers. Her shoulders relax as he explains, "I have no money and airfare is expensive. Not to forget train tickets, the cost of renting a boat, food, water, and supplies. Your efforts to go to Yomotsuhirasaka are very weak, lady." Lettuce looks a little hurt and discouraged when she heard that.

But then a white long rectangle gets in between both Lettuce and Pai. The white side faces Lettuce and she gasps in surprise of it. Pai's eyes only get a little wide for being startled by its sudden appearance. Keiichiro, the one holding the paper in front of Pai and Lettuce and with blood shot red eyes, asks, "Would this be enough?"

Pai accepts the long rectangle and Lettuce quickly goes behind him to look over his shoulder. Pai's eyes are now wide with surprise as Lettuce could hardly believe what she's seeing. The long piece of paper is a check. Keiichiro just gave Pai a check with a huge amount of money on it.

Lettuce asks Pai, "Can you please excuse me, mister?" Before Pai could say anything after he looked over his shoulder at the siblings, Lettuce takes Keiichiro's hand and pulls him away for a bit. Pai watches as Lettuce whispers to Keiichiro, "Keiichiro-nii, where did you get that money? No, wait! How did you get it and please don't tell me it was from gambling."

Keiichiro lets out a slow sigh and confesses, "Lettuce, I sold the café." She could not believe what she just heard. Judging by her silence, he decides to continue. "I had no choice. Some of our debts were way overdue and I was getting no customers because of how poorly the café looked. I couldn't ask for money from Dr. Shirogane again so I sold it. Making that decision is the reason why I went drinking last night. That check is the last remains of the money we have."

"But," Lettuce says slowly. Pai heard everything and he takes in what he's seeing as well. Lettuce looks sad by her brother's decision as she looks down at his chest. She rubs his arm and looks back up at him. "Keiichiro-nii."

"I accept."

Both Lettuce and Keiichiro look up and they see Pai folding the check in half. He asks, "You don't mind if I use some bit of this money to get a room and food for the night. I promise I'll only use that money after I buy what is needed to get to Yomotsuhirasaka. You also don't mind if I use the rest to also get a few more supplies, do you?"

Lettuce stares at him in surprise as Keiichiro answers, "Do what you want. The money is yours but use it only after you pay for what we need for the journey."

Pai answers dryly, "Of course. Tomorrow morning, go to the airport and check yourselves in. Your tickets will be under your name. Midorikawa, correct?" Keiichiro and Lettuce nod their heads.

Then Lettuce bows. "Thank you, mister." She grabs Keiichiro's arm and tells Pai, "Good day." Then she pulls him out of the bar. They have some packing to do. Pai watches them leave and his eyes remain on Lettuce as she disappears from sight.

"That girl didn't call you by what everyone else calls you," Mark notes, wiping a wet glass. "Did she?"

Pai looks back at him and answers, "No. No, she didn't."

"He's not coming. It's official, Lettuce," Keiichiro says. "We've been tricked."

Lettuce turns her eyes away from the descending passengers of the plane they just got off not too long ago and looks at her brother. She tries to defend, "But, he said he'll come."

Keiichiro turns to her and says, "Lettuce, he booked us in first class. He probably did that to fool us."

After making a deal with Pai, Lettuce and Keiichiro packed that night. They didn't say anything to Dr. Shirogane because he would tell them not to go and they don't want to anger him anymore than they already have. So in the morning, they left him a note of good bye and reassurance that they will return soon and in good health before leaving for the airport. Just like Pai said, their tickets were under their name and it was for first class. They were nervous about it at first since they've never been in first class before but what can they do about that. They flew from England to Japan and now they just exited out of the plane and are waiting for the one man who will lead them to Yomotsuhirasaka, if he shows up.

Lettuce adjusts her big round glasses and tells her brother, "Yes, I'm sure that he looked like a filthy, rude, scoundrel at first but I'm sure that he's probably a good man."

"Anyone I know?"

Both Keiichiro and Lettuce turn around, startled to hear Pai's voice but when they look at him, he looks very different than how he looked yesterday. Now he looks clean. He looks like he had a bath, the dirt gone from his fair white skin, his mustached and his beard shaved off, and his hair clean, cut, and fixed. Lettuce's cheeks turn red and she gasps in surprise from this new appearance. Instead of looking at Keiichiro, who was insulting him not too long ago, Pai's looking at Lettuce, waiting for an answer. But she's speechless. Pai looks…handsome. He has broad shoulders and strong muscles on his arms as he's holding his big, long bag over his shoulders. His chin appears to be hard and set, his neck looks tough but flexible. He has short greyish purple hair, complimenting the pale skin on his face but he has the weirdest hair style Lettuce has ever seen. The strands in front of his left ear are longer than the rest of his hair length, almost shoulder length and it's wrapped by a dull green bandage. What fascinate Lettuce most are his eyes, his dark purple eyes that appear hard and cold but there is also kindness deep inside them as he stares down upon her.

Lettuce could hardly speak when she looks at him. "O-Oh, aaa…" Hearing her, Keiichiro looks at her and he sees how red her cheeks are from the very sight of Pai. They're almost as red as a red delicious apple. Keiichiro raises a brow at that and a hint of anger sparks inside him. She finally greets, "H-H-Hel-llo, mister."

He greets back dryly, "Hello." Then Keiichiro cuts in.

"We were worried, you wouldn't make it," he tells him with a cheerful smile on his face with a happy expression. Pai eyed at him curiously as Lettuce tears her eyes away from Pai and to her brother. Wasn't he just doubting Pai showing up not too long ago?

Keiichiro grabs Pai's hand and shakes it. Pai only tells him, "When I made the arrangements, they told me that there were three seats available in first class. One of them was a single seat and it was the first row. I figured the two of you being siblings, you don't want to be separated."

"How very kind of you, Mumei," Keiichiro tells him, letting go of his hand. "I hope that the remains of your money were enough to pay for a room and some food last night."

"And for some more supplies that we'll be needing," Pai adds as he adjusts the bag on his back. "Since I was ahead of you, I went down to get my bag and yours as well." Both Keiichiro and Lettuce look down at his feet and they see two suitcases next to his legs; one lime green and the other brown. "I saw your name tags on the handles and got them for you. Since you both weren't down yet, I went up to look for you."

Lettuce looks back at him, her eyes full of surprise and amazement for this man. This was a big change. Yesterday, he was rude and filthy and now all clean up, he's a complete gentleman.

But apparently, Keiichiro is not convinced. "We appreciate your good manners, but there is something we must clear up first." Pai looks at him, waiting as Lettuce looks at her brother in surprise of his behavior. "You have to look at us in the eye and swear that you're telling the truth about Yomotsuhirasaka. Because _I_ swear that you wi-"

"Before you make some threat I won't be scared of," Pai interrupts, "let me tell you this." Lettuce and Keiichiro look back at him, giving him their full attention. "My entire garrison was crazy about Yomotsuhirasaka, similar to you two and they lost their lives to find it. I'm damn sure I know where Yomotsuhirasaka is." After that, he turns around and walks away. "Now hurry or we'll miss our train."

Both Lettuce and Keiichiro look at each other before bending down to pick up their bags and rushing over to Pai's side.

Let the treasure hunt begin.


	5. Train Robbery

**A/N: Okay, Pai?**

**Pai: Present.**

**Tsukiko: Lettuce?**

**Lettuce: Here!**

**Tsukiko: And Keiichiro, again.**

**Keiichiro: Here!**

**Ryou: Okay, seriously!! When do we get to go on?**

**Kisshu: 'We' as in 'you'?**

**Tsukiko: Please don't start that now. Ryou, you know that you're going to be coming up in a few chapters. Ichigo's not going to show up until the end and Kisshu has a few more chapters to go before he comes up.**

**Kisshu: And the next time anyone is going to see me, I'm going to be in a coffin.**

**Tsukiko: Unfortunately yes.**

**Lettuce: Tsukiko-san does NOT own TMM or the songs or the movies she uses in her stories. She only comes up with the ideas and the changes. Thank you all for the lovely reviews and please keep them coming.**

**Tsukiko: Thank you and please enjoy!! Okay now! Lights, camera, action!!**

Ch. 4: Train Robbery

_Trot-trot-trot-trot_

_Trot-trot-trot-trot_

In the darkness of the full moon night, five horsemen ride through the night, following the train tracks of a long dinning train coming into view from a mile away. The horses pant, their breathes visible from their noses, and the men riding them slap them to go faster. These men wear full black clothing, camouflaging them.

Inside the dinning train, Pai enters one box and the first thing he smells in the familiar scent of alcohol and he hears the laughing of people socializing and the flapping of cards at a table not too far from him. As he looks at the table of slapping cards, he sees three unfamiliar men, along with Keiichiro playing poker.

One man yells, "Can you just cut the deck already, Royal Highness?!" Pai raises a brow at the sound of this weird nickname.

But the one known as Royal Highness replaces his glasses back on his face and tells the man, "How can I cut the deck if I can't even see it, Blue Bayou." Never mind, his nickname is even weirder.

Royal Highness looks younger in than Pai. He looks a bit more boyish but he's handsome in his own way. His skin is olive color, a tone darker than Pai's and it's complimented by his short, bangles, dark blue hair. Unlike Pai who looks buff, this man looks skinny, more of the toned type. Similar to his name, he has a long coat on with long sleeves and white buttoned shirt as well under it with layers of lace at the corner. He has long dress pants as well to finish the outfit. A classy look, especially with his square glasses in front of his red eyes that give off elegance and intelligence.

His friend, Blue Bayou is a bit less classy than his friend, Royal Highness. Although his short blond hair bounces above his olive color skin does give off a hint of elegance as his jade green eyes give off a classy look as well. He doesn't have glasses and he looks like a real confident fellow. Especially when all he has on is baggy camouflage pants, hiking boots, a black belt on his pants, and a green vest. But similar to his friend, he's not the buff type. He's a very well toned man with lines of muscle on his arms and neck. But what else Pai noticed is that he has two guns on his belt.

Even though the other man sitting at the table didn't say anything, Pai looks at him as well. The man sitting next to Blue Bayou and Keiichiro is a pretty boy. His skin is tan. He appears to have some muscle but if he worked out a lot then he would probably be the buff kind. He has short, dark brown locks of hair and violet eyes. As he's holding the cards of the deck, he appears to be analyzing them like he's reading a book. He doesn't have glasses but it appears that, similar to Lettuce, he must be a bookworm that prefers to dust off architects instead of killing someone for it. He has on a light blue buttoned shirt underneath a dark blue coat, long brown pants, and hiking books.

Being curious of these men, Pai decides to approach them.

"Keiichiro," he calls, emotionless as always.

Keiichiro and the other three men look up at him and Keiichiro greets, "Good evening, Mumei."

Blue Bayou points at him and asks, "So you're the great Mumei?" Pai raises a brow at that as Blue Bayou smirks in delight. "How very lucky of me. Now I don't have to look for you after I win this game."

The unknown man looks up at him and tells him, "Don't be so confident."

Blue Bayou looks at him and hisses, "Shut it, Norihiro." Well now, Pai knows his name. Blue Bayou looks back up at Pai with the delighted smirk and offers, "Why not stay and play, Mumei? I want to get to know you better." Keiichiro tenses at the sound of Pai playing but Pai didn't see that.

"I only gamble with my life, not my money," he tells him. Keiichiro looks back up at him, not believing what he just heard.

"Oh really?" Blue Bayou asks, raising a brow. "Even if I bet you five hundred dollars we reach Yomotsuhirasaka before you?"

Keiichiro snaps back, looking at him at the sound of money as Pai asks, "You're looking for Yomotsuhirasaka?"

Royal Highness answers, "Of course."

"What makes you think you can find something that no one has found for over five hundred years?" Pai asks.

"Well what makes you?"

Royal Highness, Blue Bayou, nor Norihiro asked that. Pai had to look up to the side to see two men at a table right next to them. One of them has his back facing them as another one is looking at Pai with a curious glance. Pai didn't have to guess who asked the question; especially since the one who asked had a Chinese accent and this one looks Chinese. This man looks like the buff type and he is. He has big strong muscles on his arms, torso, and on his legs, underneath the Chinese style of clothing he's wearing. He's wearing a black long sleeve shirt and matching long sleeve pants with red trimmings. He has white socks on and the Chinese black shoes as well. From the skin Pai can see on his face and hands, he's a tan man. His hair is very dark brown, almost red and his eyes are a deep shade of violet, unlike Norihiro's medium shade of violet eyes.

"Who said that we're looking for Yomotsuhirasaka?" Pai asks.

Before he got the idea that maybe Keiichiro said something, even though judging by his character it's not possible, the man next to the Chinese man says, "Well why else are you here for, my friend?" Pai's eyes slightly widen as the man with his back towards him turns around to face him. When Pai sees his face, his mouth slightly opens in surprise of seeing this man. It's Omi. His friend in the garrison and the last time Pai saw him, he was running for his life and suddenly disappeared on Yomotsuhirasaka.

Omi stands up and walks over to Pai. "Mumei, my good friend! I'm so happy you're alive." He hugs Pai and Keiichiro looks at the scene in disbelief. Omi slaps Pai's back twice before pulling away and asking, "So tell me how you survived, Mumei? Last time I saw you, you were running from our enemy."

Pai grabs his arm and squeezes it. Omi's happy expression went to pain as Pai pulled the hand off and his voice suddenly got…colder. "I swam from Yomotsuhirasaka to land, Omi. But I'm curious about you. How did you leave the island after leaving me to handle those men when you hit two men out of six bullets?"

"Ow, ow, ow, ow!! Mumei, that hurts!" Omi winces.

Blue Bayou stands up and asks, "Mind letting go of him? I don't appreciate our guide getting hurt."

Pai stares at him before letting go of Omi. Omi pulls his arm back and steps away from Pai. "Geeze, Mumei! Do you have to show me such tough love?" he asks.

But Pai ignores him. His attention is to Blue Bayou. "I'll accept your wager if you allow me to talk to Omi in private?" Omi looks at him in wide eye before looking at Blue Bayou. His eyes are pleading but Blue Bayou ignores him.

He grins and says, "Alright." Then he sits back down and grabs his cards. Omi looks like he's doomed as Pai slaps his hand on Omi's back.

"Come on, Omi," he says, grabbing his jacket and pulls him to the door across from them.

Norihiro turns to his friends and asks, "Do you think it's wise to let him go?"

Then Keiichiro tells them, "Mumei may look emotionless but he's a good man, I believe." This his elbow bumps into his drink and it falls to the floor.

_Crash_

Pai opens the door and pushes Omi through it before looking over his shoulder after hearing that crash. He sees Keiichiro panicking. "Oh shoots!" He bends down to pick up the glass and his cards are revealed to everyone on the table. Instead of looking at the mess Keiichiro made, they look at his cards. Then Keiichiro sits up and hides his cards. They look away as he asks, "Is there a janitor here?" Pai just looks away and shakes his head. He knows Keiichiro is going to cheat.

XxX

_Slam_

Omi slams into the wall with Pai's hands on his collar. He asks, "Why must you be so harsh, Pai?"

"Shut up!" Pai tells him harshly, his eyes like icy daggers. "What makes you think that after what happened, you can just call me by my name?"

Omi answers, "Because you trust me with it."

"And back there, you just called me 'Mumei' because we were in public?"

"Well I figured that since they already called you 'Mumei', it means that you don't trust them with your name yet. I was only thinking of you, my beloved friend."

Pai still on glares at him as he lets one hand let go of Omi. He uses that free hand to go to his side and he takes out a dagger. Omi's eyes widen in fear of the sharp blade as it goes to his neck, the feeling of the cold blade touching his skin sent shivers down his spin. "Think of my family, Pai!"

Pai only reminds, "You don't have a family."

Omi gets silent for a moment before saying, "Someday I might."

"Hush!" Pai presses the blade closer to Omi's neck and he asks, "Tell me your connection with those other Americans."

"I'm…" Omi starts before gulping. "They made a deal with me. I am to take them to Yomotsuhirasaka and then bring them back to Japan."

"And knowing you, you're going to sink their ships and run away with the money in your pocket," Pai notes.

But Omi tells him, "Unfortunately no. They give me half now and the other half when we're back in Japan."

"So that's how it is?" Pai asks, pulling his dagger away. He lifts Omi up again and slams him to the wall before letting him go. "You're still a scumbag." He puts his dagger away as Omi fixes his collar.

"But I'm curious too, Pai," Omi tells him. Pai looks at him as Omi asks, "You never believed in Yomotsuhirasaka but you're going back with that English man."

Pai takes a moment of silence. He knows that Omi is talking about Keiichiro. "That man's sister saved me from a life time of booze and gambling. A life that you gave me after leaving me behind."

Omi ignores the last bit as he asks, "Is she…pretty? This, I believe, is the first time that you ever showed an interest in a girl before."

Pai puts his arm on Omi's shoulder and leads him back to the other cart, which means passing an open janitor's closet. "She's…a bookworm." Then he pushes Omi into the janitor's closet and slams the door. Next to it is a chair and he leans it against the knob. He can hear Omi trying to open the door and then slamming it with his fists.

"Pai!! Get me out of here! Pai!!" he yells, but Pai ignores him and begins to walk back to the other cart.

_Ne-e-e-e-e_

Pai stops walking when he hears a horse cry. He looks over his shoulder at the sound and he hears it again.

_Ne-e-e-e-e_

XxX

In the dinning cart, Lettuce is comfortably sitting down by the window in her brother's, Pai's, and her own compartment. With the luggage safely over her head, she examines the blotch that first got them in this adventure. She moves it to the sides and examines it. So beautiful crafted as it shimmers in the light. When she examines the red stones, she notices something. The center piece, the small heart under the heart image of the two curve lines, almost looks like a button. When she presses it, the bottom of it opens and a golden chain appears. Lettuce gasps in surprise and turns it over. The bottom of it was a secret storage space. Now the blotch looks like an amulet necklace. The chain is long so Lettuce simply puts her head through it and moves her braids over it. Now as the blotch, or maybe pendant, rests against her chest, she lifts it up and examines it, even more.

Then the door slams open and Pai stands there.

From the sound of the sudden door opening, Lettuce jumps and looks up to see Pai. She lets out a sigh of relief as he enters the compartment. "You scared me, mister."

He looks at her and he sees her wearing the pendant. "Hide it," he tells her before looking up to get his long, big bag.

Lettuce looks down at the pendant before putting it under her shirt, blushing red as she can feel the cold gold against her skin. "It's hidden," she tells him weakly. Pai doesn't answer as he sits down on his side, across from her, and opens his bag.

From what Lettuce can see, his bag is filled with weapons. She sees at least two swords, a dozen daggers, three dozen shuriken, and about fifty spiritual wards. Lettuce is confused by the sutras because she never suspected Pai of being the superstitious type. Pai takes out one thing that almost looks like black brad knuckles. As he lifts that up, five shuriken come flouting up. Then the string that holds the shuriken shines in the light. Very interesting, thin string that connects the shuriken to the brad knuckles. Pai puts that on his and he takes out a cloth to wipe each shuriken.

"Excuse me," Lettuce calls. "Is there something wrong? What are all those weapons for?"

Pai doesn't look at her. His attention is on cleaning the weapons. Then he tells her, "There's something on that island. Better to be safe than sorry."

Lettuce couldn't help but ask, "What is..on that island?"

Pai looks at her curiously. She turns red when he does and he says, "I thought you knew the story of Yomotsuhirasaka."

"Oh, I," she starts, frantically. "I do. It's just that I don't really believe in the curse of the Kyuuketsuki. I only believe in the scroll of Izanagi, the male god of creation." Lettuce looks a little sky with her cheeks red, a small smile on face, and her eyes looking down at the ground. "It's not that I'm greedy or anything since the scroll is supposedly made out of gold but it also contains the secret incantations of Japan. My guardian, Dr. Shirogane, took me in when I was a little girl. I owe him so much for all that he's done and for all the trouble I caused. I've been quite a handful to him for so long."

"Hm," he lets out, to show that he's listening. But it feels like he's not listening.

Lettuce looks up at from the simple answer and she feels…hurt. As Pai puts the cloth away and closes up his bag, Lettuce looks discouraged. He puts the bag down on the ground and she looks at her hands on her lap. Her hands hold each other and squeeze together in a tight grasp. Her blush is gone and her eyes look sad as her heart pounds in pain.

_Crash_

Lettuce's head snaps up and Pai sharply turns to her direction. Then a hand grabs Lettuce's neck and squeezes. That hand punched right through the wall right next to Lettuce's head and now it's grasping her throat. In reaction, Lettuce grabs the hand and tries to pull it off as it gets harder to breathe. Quickly, Pai raises one shuriken and throws it at the hand. The shuriken hits the hand and it lets go of Lettuce as a male's scream is heard from the other compartment. Lettuce pulls away as Pai pulls his shuriken out of the hand. The hand goes back through the hole and Lettuce suddenly feels a hand gently grabbing the back of her neck. Before she could react, Pai pushes her down and they both lie on the floor right when guns started shooting out.

Pai whispers to her, "Stay down." Lettuce looks up at him as he looks ready for battle.

As soon as the guns stopped, Pai quickly and quietly gets his bag and he grabs Lettuce' hand. She didn't have time to blush as he pulls her out of the compartment. Down and up the hallway are two people in black with guns in their hands. Lettuce gasps in horror and in one second later, Pai sends two shuriken at one guy. That guy screams out in pain and drops his gun. Before the other guy was going to shot, Pai pulls the already dead guy at him. As the body was flying, Pai pulls his shuriken out. The body hits the other guy and Pai grabs Lettuce's hand again. He pulls her up the hallway and she runs behind him.

She asks, "What's going on?!"

"Those men," he started. "I saw them on Yomotsuhirasaka the last time I was there! They were the ones who killed my men." Lettuce's eyes widen in shock of hearing that. And now those men are here?!

When Pai and Lettuce were going to reach a corner, Pai's eyes widen when he senses something. He stops running, causing Lettuce to bump into him. Her cheeks turn red when she leans against his back for a moment before he leans against the wall. She looks up at him in confusion as he slowly steps closer to the edge. She follows close behind him for safe measures and instead of readying his shuriken again, he sticks his hand out and he grabs something. He brags a shirt and pulls the man in front of them. He caught Keiichiro.

"Keiichiro-nii!" Lettuce calls, surprise to see her brother.

Keiichiro pulls Pai's hand off him and goes in front of his sister. His hands on both of her arms in a worried matter. "Lettuce! Are you alright? I thought I heard gunshots."

"You did."

Keiichiro and Lettuce look up at Pai and he's looking out for anymore men in black. "There are men here that are after the pendant. I heard horses outside, which was unusual since horses do not migrate this far from in the open. I was trying to listen to how many there are."

'_So that's why he didn't answer me,'_ Lettuce thinks, feeling an idiot. _'And that's why he told me to hide the pendant. No wonder he looked surprised when that hand grabbed me.'_

Pai looks out a little longer before turning to both Keiichiro and Ichigo. He motions them to follow him and all three of them slowly walk to the door at the end of the cart. When he opens the door, he hears more shooting further up. That means that the men don't really know where Lettuce is and are attacking different carts to find the pendant. But they can't go back down because knowing these men, they probably have more than three men back there. Pai looks up to the side and he sees a ladder that leads to the top of the cart.

Pai turns to Keiichiro and tells him, "You go first and climb up the ladder."

Keiichiro says, "You climb up first!"

"I rather climb up last," Pai tells him. "If you go up, then you can help Lettuce get up and walk your backs." Lettuce's cheeks turn red for a brief moment. Did Pai just call her by her first name?

Keiichiro stares at Pai for a moment until…

_Bang_

The three of them duck at the sound of the bullet before looking down at the hallway. They see three more men coming up after them. Pai's instincts were right.

Without another word, Keiichiro goes up to the ladder and climbs up. More bullets shot out towards Pai and Lettuce and they duck to protect themselves from the bullets. When Keiichiro reached the top of the train, he leans over to the edge and sticks out his hand. "Lettuce!!" he screams.

Lettuce and Pai look up and Pai didn't hesitate to pick up Lettuce by the waist. He told her, "You're lighter than you look." Her cheeks turn more red until he leans her against the ladder. She grabs the ladder and put her feet on it. Pai lets go of her and turns to the men as Lettuce also grabs Keiichiro's hand to help pull herself up.

When Pai turned to the other men, one was already in front of him. He punches him in the face and then kicks him in the stomach. The man took Pai off guard as then he grabs Pai's neck and pushes him to the wall. While Pai was distracted, the other two guys run outside to the Keiichiro and Lettuce. By then, Lettuce and Keiichiro were already on the roof but when they saw those two men in black coming out, they suddenly jump over Keiichiro and Lettuce and landed behind them. Lettuce and Keiichiro turn towards them in shock to see them behind.

"Wh-What are these people?" Lettuce asks, scared. Keiichiro holds her close in a protective way as the men approach them.

In the cart, it became Pai's turn. He used his strength to slam the guy's hands away and then he head butts him. The man stumbles backwards from the shock of the hit and Pai took that chance to jump up and air kick him. The man falls to the ground and Pai didn't waste time running outside to the ladder. During that time, he takes out two daggers.

"You two, duck!" he yells, getting up.

In reaction to that, both Keiichiro and Lettuce duck and Pai comes up, throwing two daggers at the two men. They didn't react as the daggers hit them right in the throats. The men gag before falling down, dead. Keiichiro and Lettuce look up when they heard the _clunck_ the bodies made as Pai walks over and takes his daggers from the bodies.

He turns to them and yells, "Hurry!" They got up and started running as Pai leads the way. Since they are on the last cart of the train, they run to the edge, seeing horses running behind the trail because their reins are tied to the rail of the train. Pai goes to the ladder first and lands on the ground quickly. Then he looks up and offers his arms for Lettuce. She didn't hesitate to jump. Pai catches her bridal style. He looks at her and tells her, "You didn't have to do that."

She turns red in realization of what she just did.

Without another word, Keiichiro gets down the ladder like how Pai did. When Pai looks at the horses as he puts Lettuce down on her feet, he counts that there are six horses. Some of the saddles are big so that means that some of those men were riding two or three on a horse. Pai goes to the three extra horses and he cuts the reins with one of his bloody daggers. Those horses begin to run slower than the train and soon run off into different directions. Then he turns to the other three horses.

Pai turns to Keiichiro and asks, "If I pull the horse closer, can you get on?" Keiichiro only nods and Pai turns to the horses.

He grabs one of the horse's rein and pulls it closer. As quickly as he could, Keiichiro grabs onto the horse's mane and jumps on the saddle. Then Pai unties the rein on the rail and throws it to Keiichiro. Keiichiro grabs it and his horse begins to run closer than the train. Now it's Lettuce's turn.

Pai pulls the rein of the second horse and he turns to look at her. "Can you get on without killing yourself?"

Lettuce answers, "I can try."

Pai took that as a good enough answer. He asks for her hand with his free hand and she places her hand in his grasp. Then he lifts her up and she gasps in surprise. It almost felt like she was flying as she landed on the saddle. She quickly grasps onto the horse's mane and Pai unties the rein. Even though he tosses the rein to her, she didn't let go of the mane.

Pai grabs his bag and tosses it over his shoulder. As Lettuce begins to trail behind the train, she looks at how Pai is doing and she gasps. Calculating with the weight of the bag along with the distance the horse will probably away once he's free from the train could mean that Pai won't make it. Lettuce did the only thing she could think of, help him.

Lettuce kicks on the horse and she begins to say something to the horse's ear. "Teek-teek-teek-teek! Hut-hut-hut!" She says that at least three times and suddenly the horse started to run faster and harder. Pai notices that and stares as Lettuce reaches for the untied rein and grabs it. She repeats, "Teek-teek-teek-teek! Hut-hut-hut!" As she gets faster, she lets go of the mane and reaches for the train rail. Now she has one hand holding the rein and another holding onto the rail. Pai is staring at her in surprise as she turns to him and yells, "Get on! Hurry!!"

After that, he didn't hesitate. He jumps over the rail and lands on the saddle perfectly. Seeing that he's on, Lettuce lets go and she begins to lean on the side. Quickly, Pai grabs her arm and pushes her back up. She looks at him and he's already looking at her. As the train runs further and further away, the horses begin to slow down until a complete stop. As the horses stop completely and they pant from the hard running, Pai still has his hand on Lettuce's arm. Keiichiro rides up a little closer and he sees both Pai and Lettuce staring at each other.

Pai lowers his arm and tells Lettuce as emotionless as always, "Thank you. You were very brave."

Lettuce looks down at her hands on the horse's mane and her cheeks turn into a deep shade of red again. "No, ah, thank you. You saved my life."

"And you saved mine," Pai reminds, "twice." She looks up at him again and he stares right back at her.

Then Keiichiro comes trotting closer to them. "Okay, now what?!" he asks. Pai looks at him in confusion as Lettuce looks down at her hands again in embarrassment. Seeing his expression, Keiichiro reminds, "We just barely escaped with our lives, we've lost our equipment, our tools, and our bags; all except yours."

Pai adjusts the bag on his shoulder and tells him, "These weapons were paid with the remains on the money from when I arranged our transportations. How much money did you win from those Americans?"

Keiichiro raises a brow but answers, "The five hundred dollars that they're going to use at the bet you agreed to are the last bits of money they have left."

"And these horses might cost a good price," Pai notes, examining the horses. Then he looks to the side and Keiichiro and Lettuce fallow his gaze, they see some flashes of light like bites of fire flashing in the wind. "The village is right there. This open area used to be a forest but just recently, it was cut down. But that didn't happen until after they made the rail tracks going around the twenty acre forest. I believe that we're lucky tonight." After that, Pai goes trotting away towards the forest.

Keiichiro has a vein on his head. "Lettuce! I understand that this guy may know the way to Yomotsuhirasaka, but he treats us like a bank and all he cares about himself."

"Actually," Lettuce says, looking at her brother, "he acts like you when it comes to money." Keiichiro looks at his sister funny as she adds, "It's actually funny. I never thought I would meet someone as money careful as you." Lettuce starts to laugh as Keiichiro looks at her like he cannot believe what she just said.

Keiichiro then looks away and asks, "Anyway, are you coming? We'll be left behind." Then he begins to trot behind Pai. Lettuce begins to follow moments later.

Meanwhile, Pai has other things on his minds. _'Those men and the clothes they wore, they are the same as the ones on Yomotsuhirasaka. Who exactly are they?'_


	6. Arriving on Yomotsuhirasaka

**A/N: Hello again!! I have to admit again that I am a bit disappointed again.**

**Taruto: Here she goes.**

**Pudding: Taru-Taru!**

**Tsukiko: Everyone! I am asking if I should write a TMM version of 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas'. If you guys don't want me to then, alright. I just wanted to give you guys a Christmas treat and I thought it would be a bit funny if Kisshu played the Grinch. But if you don't want me too, I would like a good reason why not.**

**Kisshu: I have too many lines anyway. I'm fine.**

**Tsukiko: You have some free time before then! Yeah, you're going to show up in the next chapter but all you're going to do is lie down in a coffin!**

**Kisshu: Yeah but I have the short stories of 'History Repeats, Almost' to worry about, along with 'Messages in Dreams', 'Family Reveals Memories', and 'You're a Girl'.**

**Tsukiko: You're taking the longest break in 'You're a Girl' in case you've forgotten that you just left Ichigo without so much as a good bye!!**

**Kisshu: Yeah, about that! Why am I so cruel to koneko-chan?!**

**Tsukiko: For someone who died for her, I would think that you would know the answer to that.**

**Pudding: Tsukiko onee-chan does NOT own TMM or the songs or the movies that she uses in her stories, na no da. Thank you all for awesome reviews and please keep them coming, na no da! She loves them, na no da! Especially since she's anxious to know if her writing is getting sucky, na no da.**

**Tsukiko: Pudding!!**

**Pudding: She would also like to know if she should do the movie idea or just write a Christmas one shot, na no da? Though, she thinks that might be hard, na no da. Thank you and please enjoy!!**

Ch. 5: Arriving on Yomotsuhirasaka

"Arigatogosaimasu," Keiichiro tells the boat salesman like the perfect gentlemen that he is. The salesman bows to him and then turns to his other customers as Keiichiro and Pai walk away and Keiichiro has a calculator in his hands. He starts typing in buttons as he mumbles to himself, "Let's see...After selling the horses and adding that money to our wallets, we so far used one third of our money for a room last night, about one fourth of the money for food, we only bought flashlights, matches, tents, and some clothes, I gave one fifth of our money to Lettuce so that she could find some female clothing, and we have spent no money on equipment because this bloody village doesn't have any bloody tools for finding artifacts or treasure. Not to forget the price of two boats."

Pai only eyes at this strange man before him. "We could have gotten them for free," Pai states.

"Oh?" Keiichiro asks, looking at him from the corner of his eye. "How so?"

"We could have given him your sister," he answers. Keiichiro got upset real fast when he heard that.

He turns to him and yells, "Don't even joke about that!"

Pai only shrugs his shoulders. "I was only saying."

After the little adventure that the three of them had last night on the train, they sold the horses and instantly got a room. All of that running around and trying to escape with their lives tired them out. As Keiichiro and Lettuce took care of personal hygiene while they still could before going to Yomotsuhirasaka, Pai was cleaning his equipment, especially his shuriken and his two daggers since he used them to kill about three to four people. Then after a good night's sleep and some food for dinner, they started to re-prepare themselves after leaving everything on the train. The village appeared to be old fashion – shrine looking houses, nearly all of the villagers wearing kimonos, and everyone are basically living the feudal era Japan life style. While Keiichiro and Pai got the supplies they will most likely need, Keiichiro gave Lettuce some money to get clothes for herself.

"No, thank you," the two guys hear. They turn to the side and they see Lettuce backing away from a stand and a woman who has a rouge in her palm and a finger pointing at Lettuce with some of the red rouge on. The woman speaks in Japanese but it sound like Lettuce is having a hard time understanding her. "I said 'no'!" she told the woman again as kindly and gently as she could to not show disrespect. "Thank you but I'm fine."

Then Keiichiro cuts in. "Samimasen!" he calls. He gets in between his sister and the woman and he begins to speak to the woman in fluent Japanese.

Pai walks over to Lettuce and asks, "How is it that your brother knows fluent Japanese and you don't?" When Lettuce turns around to face him, his eyes widen in complete shock of her beauty.

Lettuce looks like she has been given a major make over. She went from bookworm to gorgeous researcher. She's wearing a green kimono with long sleeves to show that she's single. The designs are red flowers and blue or white koi fish. Her hair is the same style as it always is but compared to how it was last night, wild and out of order because of excitement, her hair looks clean, neat, and it glistens in the sunlight like a clean green stream. Despite the fact that the woman did try to put some color on Lettuce's lips, she already managed to put some makeup on her eyes. Behind her big round glasses, Lettuce has a small amount of eye liner and a small dash of turquoise eye shadow. Even though the amount of makeup is small and simple, it suits her. If only one word could describe how she looks to Pai, he couldn't find it.

Lettuce turns a little red and she adjusts her glasses on her face. "Keiichiro-nii's specialty is modern Japanese. I only know so little because I prefer ancient Japanese. He knows some too but he's just as rusty as me with modern Japanese," she answers. When she looks up at him and notices his wide eyes, she looks at him with a questionable expression. "Mister, why are you looking at me like that?"

Pai shakes his head and looks away. "It's nothing," he tells her. She blinks in surprise and her blush returns.

"Lettuce!" Keiichiro calls, showing up besides her. When she looks at him, his eyes widen a bit as well. "Wow," he breathes out. "You look amazing."

'_She looks more than amazing,'_ Pai thinks. Then he turns red at his own thoughts. He looks away to hide his face from them and he wonders, flustered, _'Why the hell did I just think that?!'_

Lettuce looks down at the ground in embarrassment as she tells her brother, "Thank you but I tried to tell her that I didn't need the makeup. When I put the kimono on, it was on too loose so she tried to help and then tried to put makeup on. I tried to say 'no' but I had a hard time."

"I saw," Keiichiro tells her. Pai looks back at the siblings and Keiichiro shows Lettuce something. "She asked me to at least have you keep this. She says that if you won't put on the rouge, she wants you to at least put this in your hair. The 'finishing touch' she calls it and it's free of charge." In his hand, he has a hair clip. The hair clip's main color is turquoise to match her kimono, complimented with a string of pearls, white fans, and white see through ribbons. Lettuce blushes in amazement of its beauty.

"But I can't!" she tells him.

However, Keiichiro tells her, "It was either this or the rouge."

Lettuce, obvious to know that she lost the battle, looks at the hair clip before accepting it from her brother's hand. She stares at it a moment longer until she looks up and tells him, "I need help putting it on."

"But," Keiichiro starts. "I don't know how to put clips on."

"I do."

Keiichiro and Lettuce look at Pai, surprised that he said that. Keiichiro got his older brother nature kicking in. He crosses his arms in front of him and asks like he can only think of the reason why Pai knows how, "Oh? How?"

Pai stares at him dryly as he answers, "I just do." Then he approaches Lettuce and gently takes the clip from her hands. Lettuce blushes at the contact of their hands carelessly touching but she blushes even more as Pai lifts the hair in front of her left ear a bit and puts the clip on. His touch is gentle and every time that his fingers touched the skin on her face, her heart would start racing uncontrollably. When he finished, he pulled his hands away and says, "Done."

Lettuce looks at the clip at the corner of her eye before gently touching it. She looks up at Pai and tells him, "Th-Thank you, mister."

Pai just tells her, "No problem."

Now Keiichiro is getting a bit sick of this.

"Okay," Keiichiro exclaims, getting in front of his sister. Pai stares at Keiichiro in surprise that he just showed up as Lettuce looks at her brother while he tells her, "We must be going. The Americans and the Shinto professor are probably on their way to Yomotsuhirasaka as we speak."

Lettuce looks confused about this as Pai raises a brow. "The Chinese guy is a Shinto professor?"

Keiichiro turns to look at him and says, "You can learn a lot from gambling. You should know." Pai can't lie to him about that. "Just to let you know, his name is Ron Yuebin."

Pai doesn't seem to care as he turns away from him like he's bored. Then he asks, "Shall we go then?"

Lettuce nods. "Yes. Let's go." Pai begins to walk away and Lettuce follows him. Keiichiro following her after glaring at Pai for a moment longer.

XxX

"We're finally here!" Omi cheers, seeing the familiar white sands of Yomotsuhirasaka.

As the boats come sailing closer to the island, Blue Bayou, Royal Highness, Norihiro, and Yuebin's eyes widen in amazement of the great island. The island looks like it could be taller than a fifty story tall building. They can actually see a big shrine at the top of the mountain and it is surrounded by vegetation. At the bottom of the mountain is a tall Shinto shrine entrance that's about three stories tall and it's painted red. However, the paint appears old and is peeling from the salt of the sea water. But also at the bottom there is a wide area of white sands. The area could be possibly 6 yards wide between the blue waters and the shrine entrance.

When the boats land on the white sand, Omi becomes the first to jump off the boat. "We are here, my good people. First to arrive on Yomotsuhirasaka, as part of our bet."

Blue Bayou gets off the boat as his friends get off after him. Three more boats full of their workers come to shore as Blue Bayou asks, "What makes you think that Mumei and his little group aren't here?"

Omi asks, "Do you see any other boats besides our own?" They look around and Omi is right. They only see their own boats.

Norihiro answers, "No."

"Exactly," Omi agrees, nodding. "Remember our deal that a hundred of that money is mine if I help you get here first."

"How could we forget?" Royal Highness asks like a real man of riches. "It will be interest to the money you will be receiving once we return to Japan in our own riches."

"Thank you," Omi says, nodding his head a bit low. He motions them to follow them. "Come with me. Allow me to show you where the stairs that lead to the treasure shrine are." As he walks away, Blue Bayou, Royal Highness, and Norihiro follow him as Yuebin turns to the workers.

He tells them in Japanese, _"Unload the stuff and be quick about it!"_ Then he follows the others as the workers begin to unload their cargo.

But when Yuebin catches up with his fellow work men, he finds them standing completely still, passed the shrine entrance and in shock. When he came closer and saw past their shoulders, he gasped in surprise as well. On the first five steps of the giant stairs is Pai and he's sitting down with his elbows leaning on his knees and his folded hands in front of his mouth. He stands up straight and greets, "Took you guys long enough. Glad to see you all safe after the excitement on the train and glad to see Omi out of the closet."

Omi smiles for a second in nervousness before saying, "Thank you for putting me there. How did you get here before us?"

Pai answers, "Same way you did. Took a train, bought a boat with the money Keiichiro squeezed from your managers, and came sailing here."

Blue Bayou reminds, "But your boats are not here!"

"We parked in the back," Pai answers. "I figured that you deserve some moment of victory after losing to Keiichiro."

Blue Bayou looks furious. Seeing him, Royal Highness raises his hand in front of him and lowers it. "Remain calm, Blue Bayou."

Norihiro asks, "So you're here to rub it in our faces?"

Omi stares at Pai and he appears to be staring at him as well. Omi raises a brow and defends, "Mumei isn't that type of person." The four men look at him as Pai and Omi continue to have their little eye conversation. Omi tries to figure out what Pai is here for but he can't figure it out. "What is it that you want?"

"The five hundred dollars," Pai answers, standing up. "That's one. Two, I'm sure that you have a lot of equipment so I'm sure you wouldn't mind sharing. And three, I have a favor to ask."

Blue Bayou crosses his arms in front of his chest and asks, "Oh yeah? What?"

"Tonight," Pai starts, "we should camp together."

"Are you out of your mind?!" Blue Bayou asks, now furious.

Before Blue Bayou could calm him down, Omi answers, "Done!" Now the four of them are looking at him in surprise that he just said that.

Blue Bayou grabs Omi's collar and pulls him in a threatening way. "What the hell do you think you're doing, huh? Who died and made you boss?!"

Omi tries to tell him, "We need to. You don't know this island like how Mumei and I do."

Pai says, getting their attention, "I may be strong but our group is too small and an open target. If we combine our camps, there is a better chance of survival on this island."

Omi adds, "With a few sacrifices."

Blue Bayou harshly pushes Omi away and complains, "Oh come on! You two aren't going to tell me that you believe that this island is really curse, are you?"

"Curse? Possibly not," Pai answers. "But there is something on this island that we should be cautious of. Now then," Pai opens his hand as to accept something and he finishes, "a deal's a deal."

XxX

Lettuce and Keiichiro sit on the steps of the hidden shrine, waiting for Pai to return. They actually arrived about an hour before the others did and during that time, Pai told them that the last time he was here, there was a hidden shrine that they might be interested in. He led them the way and told them to wait for him. He even gave them a gun just in case, after making sure that he knew that Keiichiro knows how to use it. Which seemed odd to both Keiichiro and Lettuce. Pai is a sword master and yet he has a gun. Maybe whatever is on this island really freaked him out, enough for him to go against being a sword master for a while. After all, Lettuce does remember seeing sutras in his bag.

Lettuce lifts her head a bit when she sees Pai walking towards them. "Mister!" she calls, sitting up straight.

Keiichiro looks up as well and Pai lifts his hand up as a gesture of greeting. He used his free hand because it appears that his other hand is occupied with something else. Keiichiro stands up and walks towards him. He asks, "Did they arrive?"

"Yes," Pai answers, approaching him. With his occupied hand, he passes one thing to his free hand and tosses it to Keiichiro. Keiichiro catches it and looks at the roll of five hundred dollars. His eyes gleam up in a pleased way as Pai walks pass him and towards Lettuce. Lettuce looks up at him in confusion as he passes her what appears to be a tool bag. "They not only agreed to letting us camp with them but they also gave us this tool bag. You need it more than I do." Then he walks up the three stairs of the shrine and approaches the door. He grabs the metal lock on the door and asks, "Anything happened while I was gone?"

Keiichiro puts the money away and turns around to face him. "No," he answers, passing Lettuce as she begins to open the tool bag. "Everything was normal."

Pai eyes him suspiciously and asks, "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

While they were talking, Lettuce opened the tool bag and inside are the equipment she needs for when they need to find artifacts. Small hammers, brushes of all sizes, and chisels are inside and they put a small smile on Lettuce's face. She looks up over her shoulder and she looks at Pai, or his backside. Still she smiles more as both him and her brother tried to decide rather to crack the lock open or open it carefully through the method of pick locking.


	7. Discovering the Treasures

**A/N: Hello everyone!! Now then, Lettuce!**

**Lettuce: Here!**

**Tsukiko: Pai!**

**Pai: Present.**

**Tsukiko: Keiichiro!**

**Keiichiro: Right here, Tsukiko-san.**

**Tsukiko: And finally, Kisshu!**

**Kisshu: I don't know why I need a script. I'm only lying around in this chapter.**

**Tsukiko: Well lucky for you, I gave you a line. You're going to have to speak ancient Japanese, which you already have no problem doing.**

**Ryou: When the heck am I coming on?**

**Tsukiko: Soon! You should be coming on the next or the chapter after the next one.**

**Ryou: That's too long.**

**Tsukiko: Hey! At least it's a guarantee!**

**Keiichiro: Ah, Tsukiko-san.**

**Tsukiko: Yes?**

**Keiichiro: The script is good but I don't sound like myself at all.**

**Tsukiko: I know. I realized that after I decided to make you an over protective brother because you don't like Pai's character, but then there won't be any spice to it. I'm sorry but there will be parts in this movie where you will be your old self again. Just be patient.**

**Lettuce: Tsukiko-san does NOT own TMM or the songs or the movies she uses in her stories. She only comes up with the ideas and the changes for them. We would all like to thank you for the wonderful reviews and we hope that they will continue to come flooding to Tsukiko-san. Thank you and please enjoy –bows-.**

**Tsukiko: Okay now! Places everyone! Kisshu, hurry up and see a make-up artist! We start with the treasure shrine on the top of the mountain! Okay? Lights…camera…action!!**

Ch. 6: Discovering the Treasures

"Norihiro!" Royal Highness calls. "Please be functional."

Angry, Norihiro stands up from sitting on the top of the stairs and he yells, "How could you have just given that guy _my_ tool kit?! Do you have any idea how much that cost?"

Blue Bayou looks at him like he's bored as he says, "Oh relax, Norihiro! Once we find the treasure on this 'cursed' island, you can buy yourself all the tool kits you want."

"Just think that the sacrifice you made for your old tool kit is only a step closer to the life of riches," Royals Highness adds. After hearing that, it appeared that Norihiro calmed down a bit but he still seemed upset about losing his tool kit.

After Pai collected the money and the tool kit from them, he also came to an agreement of where to look for treasure. He told them that his group already found a spot and they can go to the top if they wish. They didn't reject that offer because they didn't know about the small shrine on the middle of the mountain. They only know, from rumors, that the great treasures of Emperor Sakana is high up on the Yomotsuhirasaka mountain. When Pai made the offer, they acted like they were totally fine with it but in their minds, they were thinking, _'Suckers! We're going to get the treasure first!'_ They didn't know how much of a sucker _they_ really are.

Once Pai returned to his group, Omi's group went up the mountain with their boxes of supplies and half of their hired workers. The other half was down at the base of the mountain, setting up camp and preparing the food for tonight for not only their group but Pai's group as well thanks to Omi's sudden acceptance to his offer on camping together.

At the top of the mountain, when they arrived, there is a shrine. A bit bigger than the shrine that Pai and his group are at and a lot more fancier, something that screams out 'treasure vault'. The walls of the shrine are painted red and because of age, the paint is fading and peeling. The doors and the ceiling is black and the paint is also decaying. On the door, there wasn't a lock like how there was on Pai's group's shrine. Only a rusty door handle that took the force of five of the workers to lift and turn. While they were trying to open it, Omi's group waited, most of them standing while Norihiro was left to sulk on the stairs about his lost tool kit. Now the door is open and the group is ready to enter the shrine.

Norihiro walks up to his group and they turn around to enter the shrine. At first, there was darkness. From the light of the outside, they were able to see stairs that lead down to the darkness and that's it. An empty space and stairs. Yuebin turns around to some of the workers and he speaks in Japanese, **"Get some light in here and be quick about it."**

Obeying, some of the workers quickly go to the supplies they brought up and grab some torches and some flashlights. They gave Norihiro, Yuebin, Royal Highness, and Blue Bayou the flashlights and the workers, and Omi, got torches.

"How come I get a torch?" Omi asks, while the workers started lighting the torches with matches.

Blue Bayou answers, bored by this guy's behavior, "Because we are in charge and we're paying you. Now listen to your boss and go down first."

As a worker lights Omi's torch, he looks down into the stairs and the darkness. Just looking at the many stone stairs that lead to who-knows-where was giving him the creeps. The black abyss was the frosting to the cake. He's shaking as he tries to convince, "Since I'm also supposed to be taking you back, I'm more important than the workers here. Why not let a few of them go in first and then I'll go in with you following me?"

Blue Bayou and Royal Highness let out of sigh, Blue Bayou being more expressive than Royal Highness, in annoyance to how this grown man is behaving. Norihiro takes a step closer to his friends as he says, "He does have a point."

Blue Bayou looks at him to give him the eye as Royal Highness closes his eyes as an indication of surrendering to Omi's suggestion. "Very well," he answers. He turns around to Yuebin and says, "If you may."

Yuebin huffs at this before turning to the workers and ordering them again. Out of the eight workers they have accompanying them to the inside of the shrine, five of them went in first, then Omi, Blue Bayou, Royal Highness, Norihiro, Yuebin, and the other three workers. The stairs went on and on for a while. For a couple of decade minutes, there was nothing but stone stairs. Surprisingly, the stairs were not worn out or cracked like the shrine above. Only proves more that this shrine has not been disturbed for so many years and now, they found it.

"Hey, Yuebin!" Blue Bayou calls, looking over his shoulder. "How much longer till we reach the treasure room?"

Yuebin answers, "Be aware that this place is not only where Empire Sakana kept his treasure but this place is also the entrance to Yomi."

Norihiro asks curiously, "Yomi? As in the Shinto's version of the underworld?"

"Correct," he answers. "There is said to be a tunnel leading to Yomi that goes deep underground and treasure in the center of that tunnel. This is the very tunnel that we are walking in right now."

"I didn't ask for a god damn history lesson," Blue Bayou says out of irritation. He looks over his shoulder to Yuebin and tells him, "I asked how much longer till we reach the treasure!"

"Blue Bayou!" Royal Highness calls.

He turns to him now and asks, "What?!"

Royal Highness uses his hand and grabs Blue Bayou's shoulder before coming to a complete stop and making him stop as well. Blue Bayou is confused as Royal Highness points to what's in front of him. Following that finger, Blue Bayou looks forward and lets out a long gasp when he sees what's in front of him. Before them, there is a big boulder with a carved line across it horizontally. It was a just a huge, round, smooth rock in the middle of the tunnel with a deep carved line going across it.

Royal Highness tells his friend, "You spoke too soon."

Blue Bayou takes a step back in surprise and asks, "Where the hell did this rock come from?"

Yuebin then says, "It is also said that the tunnel leading to the treasure and Yomi come with many road blocks. In order to reach your destination, you must pass them. Clearly, this is one of them."

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious, Yuebin," Blue Bayou tells him, rudely. Yuebin looks at him and glares at his rudeness.

Omi thinks, hearing all of this, _'And they call me a bastard. This guy's an arrogant asshole.'_

Yuebin makes one final note, "Emperor Sakana was no fool, Blue Bayou. He designed this tunnel and his daughter, Empress Chisha constructed it shortly after his murder."

"I don't even care if he was assassinated by a neighboring empire. I just want my treasure! Now tell me how to open this damn thing!"

Royal Highness lets out a tired sigh as he mumbles, "Impatient as always."

Norihiro asks, "Since when is he ever patient?"

Yuebin tells Blue Bayou, "Allow the workers to open it. This tunnel possibly contains many traps to stop intruders from proceeding any further."

Norihiro quickly steps in and says, "I think you should listen to the good professor, Blue Bayou."

"Don't tell me that you're superstitious too?"

"I'm not. But this place is over thousands of years old and I rather listen to the Shinto professor than your hastiness."

Blue Bayou has a vein pulsing on his head as Royal Highness looks at him from the corner of his eye. "Blue Bayou," he calls, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder again. "He does have a point and your impatience is going to get us all killed."

After looking at him for a moment, he looks away and says, "Sure, fine. Let them open it first." Omi just rolls his eyes and shakes his head back and forth in disappointment.

'_What part of America is THAT guys from again?'_ he wonders.

Yuebin orders the five in the front, **"You five! Open that door!"** As they start to put their torches down, Yuebin turns to the others and tells them, "I believe it's best for us to step back just to be safe." Blue Bayou, Royal Highness, Norihiro, and Omi step back, but Blue Bayou just shakes his head, not believing that these guys can be serious.

The five workers then grab the part of the stone that's carved and they push up. At first, nothing happened because the rock is so heavy but after a little bit more force that causes them to grit their teeth tightly together and use every amount of strength they have, the boulder begins to move bit by bit, turning the carve line vertically.

"**Harder,"** Yuebin orders. As the lines gets closer and closer to a vertical straight line, he starts yelling like it's a chant. **"Harder!"** The three workers behind start to get a bit uneasy as they continue to watch the line become straighter.** "Harder!!"** Blue Bayou, Royal Highness, Norihiro, and Omi watch, their chests starting to rise up with a bit of an uneasy feeling starting to build up inside of them. Yuebin's yelling is not helping their nerves as they expect any moment now flying darts of poison come shooting out or something.** "HARDER!!!"**

When the carved line was perfectly straight, the works backed away, looking at the boulder to see if anything is happening. After a few moments, nothing did. The four nervous men let out a sigh of relief when they see this and Yuebin now looks confused. How is it that nothing happened? Why hasn't the door opened?

_Creeeekk_

By the time that they realized that the sound is coming from under the five workers and the boulder, it was too late. The ground underneath them cracks and then collapses right under their feet. With the boulder, the five works fall into a pit of darkness. Every jumped when the floor collapsed. They didn't expect that to happen. Blue Bayou, after he jumps, grabs Blue Bayou's arm and steps back like he's trying to pull him back or something. Norihiro only takes several steps back after jumping as Royal Highness grabs Blue Bayou's arms in reaction to him grabbing his arms. The workers and Omi freaked out when they saw that and didn't hesitate to turn around and run back up the stairs, taking their torches with them and leaving the other four behind. Yuebin has his eyes wide and he takes a few steps back as they can hear the pleading cries of their workers before their sound was drawn out by the depths of the hole. It was only minutes before they heard a small _boom_ indicating that the boulder has landed and the workers are now dead.

XxX

As Lettuce sits on her knees, Japanese style, her hands are pressed together, her eyes are closed, and she's chanting with two burning incense standing together in front of her. Pai and Keiichiro sit on the side of the room, watching her as she continues to pray and chant to the closed doors in front of her, with also a big lock on it.

After entering the doors outside the shrine by pick locking it, much to Lettuce's plea on respecting the shrine, Lettuce, Keiichiro, and Pai enter the shrine and similar to the Americans at the top, there was a big empty stone room with dust and cobwebs everywhere and stairs in the center of it that lead down. But instead of looking like endless stairs that lead to a bottomless pit, there are only seven steps before entering another stone, empty room, this time with having another pair of lock doors across from the stairs. When they saw it, Keiichiro and Pai immediately decided that they are going to knock the doors down since pick locking it took the most time on the first doors. Before opening that way though, Lettuce insisted on praying to the gods for permission to knock the doors down.

"I thought you told me that you don't believe in that," Pai reminded after she insisted on praying.

Lettuce turned red when she realized that Pai was listening to her on the train before they were attacked. She then told him, "I don't believe in curses and such but rather there are gods or not, I don't want to be disrespectful."

Keiichiro told him, "My sister is just sweet like that."

After that, Pai and Keiichiro allowed her to pray to the gods, both Izanagi and Izanami. However, her praying is taking more time than it took to pick lock the doors in the front. Pai and Keiichiro are getting a little bit bored with only watching her.

Pai turns to Keiichiro and asks, "How much longer must this continue?"

He answers, "Since this is her second chant since she's praying to two gods, she should be done soon. Just be patient a bit longer." Pai then takes in a deep inhale when he heard this. He then sits up straight and leans back against the wall to let exhale. Obviously, he's getting a bit impatient. Then Keiichiro asks to change the subject, "Mumei, please tell me. What is your relationship with that man, Omi? He seems to know you and he called you friend."

Pai answers, "He may say that, but he's not. No man who leaves others behind is a friend of mine. I should never have trusted him, especially with my name." Keiichiro looks confused when he heard that. He thought his one and only name is 'Mumei' and Mumei alone.

Then Lettuce opens her eyes and separates her hands after so long. She looks up at the doors and then she stands up. Seeing her move, Keiichiro and Pai look at her, a bit hoping that she's done now. She smiles and tells them, "I'm done. You may destroy it if you wish." After that, Pai and Keiichiro didn't hesitate to stand up and walk to the doors. Lettuce watches them as Pai goes to his bag of supplies and he takes out a hammer and chisel. He hands Keiichiro the chisel and he grabs the hammer. Keiichiro places on the locked chains and Pai first aims the hammer before lifting it up and in one quick _swoof_, he breaks the chains in half with the force of his hammer breaking the chains in two. When Lettuce saw that hammer coming down, she turned around so that she doesn't have to watch as she hears the chains breaking in two and Keiichiro pulling the chains off once they were broken. Then Pai uses his legs and kicks the doors open, not caring about just opening the door by unlocking the knob.

Keiichiro blinks at Pai in surprise and concludes, _'He was really impatient then.'_

After hearing the doors breaking and crashing either on the floor or on the wall, Lettuce looks back at them and both Pai and Keiichiro are staring into another room. But this time, there is no more stairs or doors that lead to more rooms. There is just one thing inside that stone room, a coffin.

Keiichiro mumbles, "A coffin? What is a coffin doing in here?" Surprised to hear that, Lettuce walks to the boys and she looks behind to see the same square, wooden coffin in the center of the room. Her eyes widen and her mouth opens when she sees this.

"Didn't the Japanese perform cremations for the dead?" Pai asks, wondering about why there is a coffin instead of a small box that possibly contains ashes. If they were going to find a dead person, then he expected to see a box of ashes, not a box that contains a partially whole body.

"Amazing," Lettuce says, her voice coming out like a whisper. Pai and Keiichiro look at her, seeing that she's right behind them and then she walks pass them towards the coffin. When she looks at the top of it, it's completely covered in dust. She takes out the tool kit Pai gave her earlier and she opens it to take out the brush. She starts brushing off the dust off the top and getting enough of just looking behind her, Pai and Taruto go up behind her. They see Japanese writing on top of the coffin, sutras, and a deeply carved shape as well. She mumbles, "I was expecting a name of a very famous leader but this doesn't make any sense."

Keiichiro asks her, "What does it say?"

She reads, "Evil one."

Lettuce looks up at her brother and he's eyeing her, confused. Pai traces his hands on the coffin and he's suddenly getting this really weird feeling. He traces his fingers on the ancient Japanese writing and the uneasy feeling worsens.

n-n-n

"The hell just happened?!" Blue Bayou asks, freaking out.

Yuebin takes a few steps closer to the hole the fallen boulder created and he leans over to look down. All he sees is a bottomless pit of darkness. He answers, "As I said, Emperor Sakana was no fool. It was a good idea to have used the workers to open the door."

Norihiro says, "Hey! I know that we're all here for the treasure but now I'm freaking out! What if there are more traps that lead to certain death before we get to the treasure? Our other workers already hitch on out of here."

Royal Highness looks over his shoulder and notes, "And our navigator has already left."

Yuebin looks at the three of them and says, "If you three wish to return to the surface you may, but I know we're getting closer and closer to our treasure and there appears to be a passage pass this hole." He points further up to prove his point. When the other three look up, they too see that the tunnel leads on but the gap between the rest of the tunnel and them might be a problem.

But then, Yuebin takes a few steps back before running and then jumping. The three of them watch as Yuebin glides through the air and lands gracefully on the other side. Blue Bayou and Royal Highness only stare as Norihiro is looking at Yuebin in disbelief. Yuebin turns around to the others and asks, "Do you three wish to join me? The jump is not that far."

Royal Highness lets go of Blue Bayou and takes a few steps back before saying, "I have jumped father distances." Then he runs and like Yuebin, he leaps into the air when he was at the edge of the floor. When he lands on the other side by Yuebin's side, Norihiro now defiantly couldn't believe it. The whole in the ground is at least five meters big.

Norihiro yells, "How could you do that?! I was expecting Blue Bayou to be able to do that but how could you?!"

"I'm full of surprises," Royal Highness answers. "I thought we traveled together long enough to know that." Norihiro didn't have anything to say to that.

Then at the corner of his eyes, Blue Bayou does the same thing– run, leap, and land on the other side no problem. He turns around to face Norihiro and he yells, "Come on, Norihiro! We're wasting daylight and I want to find some treasure before that bastard and his group do." And what he means by 'bastard', he means Pai.

Norihiro gulps and he walks back, waaay back. He closes his eyes and tries to breathe, "Okay, now pressure," he tells himself. "I can do this, I can do this." Then he starts running as fast as he can to the edge. He leaps in the air and he flies over the five meters, and six meters, and seven meters. He's surprise as his friends had to duck or he was going to fly into them. Norihiro's surprise by what happened and minutes later, they hear…

_Crash_

_Clatter_

Royal Highness turns to Blue Bayou and comments, "Now that was impressive."

"For him, greatly," Blue Bayou agrees. They turn around to see where Norihiro crashed to and they see a now broken door. Since Norihiro was able to crash through it, then that means that the door must not have been very thick or it was very weak with age. Yuebin is looking at the broken door as well and it's only a few feet away from them. How could they have not noticed it earlier. Blue Bayou walks closer to the door and he asks from the door frame, "Hey, Norihiro! Are you still alive?"

Norihiro pushes himself up and he shakes his head back and forth to bring himself back from reality. He looks over his shoulders and he answers, "I'm alive, for now."

Blue Bayou look over his shoulder to look at Royal Highness and he looks right back at him. Then they enter through the door; Blue Bayou first, Royal Highness, and then Yuebin. When they entered the room that Norihiro crashed into, besides the broken door pieces on the ground, they see a stone room with no stairs, only solid three doors, and a small chest up against the wall across from the door. There are no other doors or stairs in this room. Just an old brown chest box. When the others see this, they're surprised.

Blue Bayou asks, "Hold on! You're serious! That's the treasure? Whatever's inside that chest?" He's not happy with what he's seeing.

Royal Highness tells him, "Don't just a book by its cover. There might be something inside that is really valuable."

Blue Bayou knows that his friend has a point. He scratches the back of his head and he mumbles, "I was hoping something a little big."

"You mean things that you can't bring back with you?"

Blue Bayou glares at him for that.

After talking, Royal Highness and Yuebin start walking to the chest. Blue Bayou follows them and Norihiro stands up to walk up to the chest as well. Since their torches are gone, they had to raise up their flashlights to have a good look at this chest. It's square and what's unusual about it is that it's one four short stands and it has a top lid. Usually Japanese chests are like drawers with shelves that you can pull out and put stuff in. This one nearly looks like and English chest. It's red and the pain is starting to fade with time. There are a few designs on it, all around except on the top that are also fading– golden vines around it and light pink water lilies as well, at least two flowers on each side. On the top of the chest is ancient Japanese writing in gold characters. When they arrive, it was dusty on the top so Norihiro takes out a handkerchief and starts dusting off the dust while Yuebin was trying to translate it.

Then all of a sudden, Yuebin grabs Norihiro's hand and forces it off the chest. Because his grip was so strong, Norihiro winces. But Yuebin warns, "There's a curse on this chest!"

"Ow…" Norihiro whines. Yuebin looks at him after he whined and he lets go of Norihiro's hand. He had to rub his hand to make sure that blood is still running through his veins.

Blue Bayou notes, "You know, I'm really starting to get a bit irritated with all of this talk about curses and booby traps, Yuebin."

"Be cautious," Yuebin warns, harshly. Blue Bayou raises his brow from how Yuebin just snapped at him like that as Yuebin adds, "These curses are just as strong today as they were back then."

Royal Highness asks, "What does the chest say?"

Yuebin looks back on the chest and he reads the inscriptions, his fingers trailing down the characters like he's reading a book. "'Death will come on swift wings to whoever opens this chest.'" After he said that, they all heard something.

_Hahahaha…_

Laughing.

Hearing that and hearing that it's coming from behind them, Blue Bayou, Royal Highness, and Norihiro quickly grabbed their guns and turned around to aim their weapons at their intruders. But there is no one. There's no one at the broken door and there's no one on the other side of the hole in the ground. They looked around a little longer to look for an intruder but still, they see no one.

Norihiro suggests, "Maybe it was the wind."

Since there is no one here, Blue Bayou lowers his weapon. "Maybe, but I doubt it." Then both Royal Highness and Norihiro lower their weapons as Yuebin turns back to the writing on the chest.

"There's more," he says, getting their attention. The three of them turn to him and they look over his shoulder too look at the chest and him as he continues reading. "It says that 'There is one the undead who, if brought back to life, is bound by sacred law to consummate this curse.'"

"Then let's make sure that the dead don't come back, huh?" Blue Bayou asks. They looked at him for a moment but the attention was turned back to Yuebin when he started again.

"'He will kill all who open this chest and assimilate their organs and fluids, and in so doing he will regenerate and no longer be the undead but a plague upon this earth.'" When Yuebin was done, he looked up like he's now seeing that they have stepped into a dangerous area. Norihiro looks a little nervous.

"Hey, do you think that maybe we should leave this treasure alone?" he asks.

Blue Bayou yells, "Don't tell me that you're the hibbie-jibbies over some stupid curse that doesn't exists?! I'm actually starting to get pretty irritated with hearing that word everywhere I go!"

Norihiro looks at him and says, "I'm not being superstitious. I'm just saying that there might be a better choice for us."

"Oh? Do you see any other treasure in this room because I don't!"

Norihiro looks around and Blue Bayou is right. There isn't a single piece of treasure in this place besides this chest right in front of him. Blue Bayou then says, "I suggest we open it and see what's inside. After all, there is no way that the dead could come back to life." After he said that, he places his hands on the lid and Royal Highness and Norihiro also grabbed a part of the lid. In one pull, they lifted the chest up and a gust of smoke comes flying out and into their faces.

The four of them backed away and they started coughing. Some of the smoke got in their eyes and some of them were tearing from the irritation. Blue Bayou asks, "What the heck was that?!"

"I don't know," Royal Highness tells him before coughing some more. "But it does smell like…" he takes a moment to sniff the scent and he suddenly looks confused. "like… perfume?"

Blue Bayou asks, "Perfume?!" They stopped coughing and they took a moment to sniff the air. Indeed, the air now smells like the sweet fragrance of the combination of cherry blossoms and water lilies. An unusual combination but it's an attractive smell

Norihiro asks, "Our curse is…smelling like flowers?"

"Now that proves it!" Blue Bayou yells. They look at him and he vents, "This whole island is nothing more than a god damn party trick! There is no curse! There is no vampire! And there is no tunnel that leads to the depths of the underworld! This whole island is just full of party tricks used to scare little children!"

Royal Highness looks bored as he has his hands in front of his chest. He asks, "Are you done now? Because Yuebin is already in front of the chest."

Blue Bayou loses his fire as he looks at the chest and he sees Yuebin already in front of it and a long gasps in astonishment and amaze escapes his lips. He must have passed them when Blue Bayou was screaming in frustration. After hearing that long gasp, Blue Bayou, Royal Highness, and Norihiro got up and walk back towards the chest. They look over his shoulder again and inside the chest, they see a scroll. A hand length scroll with a silver protector. At first it looked confusing for neither of the three men ever saw a scroll look like this before. They thought that Japanese scrolls have a single string around it to seal it but this one has a protective shield around it and a cylinder shape stick that's about the same size as the scroll against an opening in the shield. On the shield, there is one design on it and it looks like it was carved into it. The design has an upside down tear drop shape and it has heart designs in the center of it, along with a round circle around the carved design.

Yuebin reaches for the scroll and he breathes out in disbelief, "So it does exist." He grasps the scroll and lifts it up from the chest. "The Scroll of Izanami!" He now holds the scroll as if he has been given the key to the world. Blue Bayou didn't look impressed.

"A scroll? Who cares about that and where's the treasure?" he asks. As Royal Highness and Yuebin looks at Blue Bayou, Norihiro notices something in the chest under where the scroll was.

Yuebin shows Blue Bayou the scroll as if he didn't see it already and he says, "This, my friend, _is_ treasure."

Royal Highness then says, "I have to agree with Blue Bayou on this." Yuebin and Blue Bayou looks at him as he adds, "I was expecting treasure like gold or jades or something like that. Not reading material."

"Hey, guys!" Norihiro calls. They look down at him and Norihiro reaches into the chest. Under where the scroll was is a hole the size of a finger. He sticks his finger inside and then pulls it up. The floor of the chest rises up to reveal that there is a secret compartment inside the chest. When the secret compartment exposes what's inside, it got Blue Bayou's and Royal Highness's attention. Inside is several pieces of treasure; a beautiful, dark green jade necklace, a pure white handkerchief made of fine silk, a rouge in a beautiful, pink shell case, and a golden bell on a red silk ribbon.

Yuebin grins and tells his comrades, "There is your treasure."

Royal Highness and Blue Bayou kneel down to Norihiro's level and the three of them smile when they see these fine pieces of jewelry. Blue Bayou nods in satisfaction. "Now that's something I expect."

n-n-n

Lettuce traces her fingers on the carved shape on the coffin and she asks, "Why is there a carved shape here?"

"And in an interesting shape," Keiichiro adds. "It almost looks like a fat tear drop."

Pai bends down closer to it and he blows into the shape, allowing the dust to fly off the shape. There are marks both outside and inside of the carved shape. On the outside, there is a thin line circle with the carved shape in the middle and inside there are two skinny long shape stones that look like they reveal a heart together. Right under it is a smaller stone that's in the shape of a heart. Then at the end of the blotch and right at the point of the heart are four small red stones that are in the shape of short lines. Lettuce, Keiichiro, and Pai instantly recognize the marks. Pai mumbles, "The blotch."

Lettuce breathes out in shock. "The blotch must be a key of some kind then." Quickly she goes to the chain around her neck and pulls the blotch from under her kimono and Keiichiro is surprise that the blotch is actually a pendant.

Keiichiro asks, "Where did you get the chain?"

"It came with it," Lettuce answers as she places the pendant gently in the key hole, a perfect fit. None of them could believe this as Lettuce is starting to smile like a little kid. "Oh my," she breathes out before pressing her fingers on the pendant. "Let's see what's inside." Keiichiro and Pai look at her with a raised brow after she said that. What could be so exciting inside besides possibly a dead body that's nothing but bones and really old clothing on?

When Lettuce pushes the pendant in one direction, the keyhole moves towards the same direction. She continues to turn it until the key hole comes to a complete stop. The pendant inside had to turn all the way around until it was facing upside up. As soon as the keyhole couldn't be turned any more, the top lid lets out a lot of air, revealing that the top lid is now free from its locks. Lettuce pulls her hands and the pendant away, the smile still on her face. She looks at both guys and asks, "If you may."

Both Pai and Keiichiro then start to push the lid off. It's heavy but when they put enough force into it, the lid begins to slowly move off. Because they're already using so much effort to just move the lid, they continue long after Lettuce was able to see what's inside the coffin. Her eyes grow bigger than her own glasses when she sees the body. Pai and Keiichiro push the lid completely off and as it bangs on the ground when it lands, they pull back and they two see the contents of the coffin.

Inside is a body but not a skeleton with only the covers of old clothing. They actually see a whole body. A body with a form of a skeleton but with dried up looking skin like the body before them died from starvation. About every bone in his body is visible with only a layer of skin to cover it. They can see his ribcage, the bones of his arms, legs, fingers, neck, and face. The body is lying in the coffin with his bone skinny hands folded over his chest, his eyes closed and sunken into his skull. What's interesting is that this body still has hair, dark dull green hair that's short, except for the strands that are in front of his ears. They're shoulder length. The only piece of clothing he's wearing is Japanese pants. Lettuce, Pai, and Keiichiro recognize the pants as Jinbei pants. Those pants are now worn in houses and such. This man's Jinbei pants are knee length and they're black. He has dark red bandages on his arms and shins and they look like it's covered in blood, his blood maybe. For there is something else that they notice about him. There is a wooden stake through his chest, nearly right where his heart should be. He's also not the only body in there. There are snake skeletons or fragments of them all around the body and some bits of it on the body.

After being speechless and staring at the body for a long period of time, Keiichiro finally says, "This is not possible." Lettuce looks at her brother and he says, "This place has been untouched for thousands of years and yet this guy looks like he just died weeks ago." Pai continues to stare at the body having that strange feeling grow inside of him.

"It is strange," Lettuce notes. Pai narrows his eyes as he stares at the face of this dead man while Lettuce continues talking. "I've never seen a body like this before. The coffin looked untouched and like you said, this place hasn't been disturbed for thousands of years."

As Pai stares at the body a little longer, something freaky suddenly happened. First Pai was staring at the face of a dead person but in one split second, the eyes of the body suddenly open and they're completely red, eyes full of rage and hatred. Pai lets out a gasp when he sees though eyes and he steps back but for some reason, he couldn't look away from the body. Then the body speaks and in ancient Japanese, making it unable for Pai to understand them. How the body said them were full with every bit of anger and hatred that the body reveals to Pai in his eyes. All Pai does is stare at this body's red eyes…his terrifying red eyes…

"Mister!" Lettuce yells, now shaking Pai's arm.

Pai snaps back into reality. He blinks a couple of times and then looks down at the body. They eyes are closed and he looks like he hardly moved at all. Pai looks at the body in confusion and a bit of fear.

Lettuce asks again, "Mister, are you okay?"

Pai looks up at her for a moment but he looks back down and cups his forehead with his hand like he's having a bad headache. "Yes, I'm fine," he answers, not really meaning them.

"Are you sure?" she asks.

Keiichiro then suggests, "Maybe you need some air. This place is a bit stuffy."

"Yeah," he agrees. He turns around to walk to the door as he says, "I just need some air." Keiichiro watches Pai leave like Pai can't handle being down here as Lettuce is looking at him in concern. Then Pai stops before completely exiting the room. "Lettuce," he calls.

Lettuce gets some red on her cheeks from the use of her name as he answers, "Yes?"

"If I say something in ancient Japanese, can you translated it for me?"

Now Keiichiro is getting a bit concern for him as Lettuce now looks worried. But she answers, "Sure. What is it?" Pai closes his eyes and tries to remember what the body just said to him. He repeats it, slowly to be careful with the sounds of the dead man's words. After hearing them, Lettuce gasps in surprise of them and now Keiichiro is looking at her, curious.

Pai asks, "What was it?"

Lettuce looks uneasy but she answers, "That means 'I will destroy you, and everything that you love for what you've done to me.'" Keiichiro is defiantly confused as Pai's eyes widen in shock of hearing that. Fear actually beats within his heart for a short moment.

After the fear passes within seconds, Pai closes his eyes and tries to calm down his nerves. He tells her, "Thank you." Then he exits the room and climbs up the stairs.

When he was gone, Keiichiro turns to Lettuce and asks, "How could someone know a phase in ancient Japanese when he himself doesn't know what it means?"

Lettuce shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know." When she looks at the body, she wonders, _'Mister took one look inside the coffin and he froze up like he was seeing a ghost. Why?'_ As she looks at the body, she notices something, something on the walls of the coffin. "Keiichiro-nii, look at this!"

Keiichiro looks inside and Lettuce points to the side of the coffin walls. When he looks closer, he sees rigged marks on the walls. "What are those marks?" he asks.

Lettuce looks on the wall of the coffin below her and she sees the same type of marks. Then she presses her hand against it and lifts up her fingers so that her fingernails are still against the wall and she pulls it back, leaving the same type of marks as the ones already on it but her marks are fainter compared to the others. She breathes out, "Oh my god. This man was buried alive."

"Buried alive?" Keiichiro asks. Lettuce doesn't seem to be listening. She looks at the lid on the other side of the coffin and she walks around the coffin to get to it. Keiichiro asks, "How could this man been buried alive? The cause of death must have been the wooden stake to his heart."

Lettuce looks at him and asks, "But then what else made those marks?" She has a point there. Then she motions him to come to her side. "Can you help me with this?" she asks. Having an idea of what she wants, Keiichiro rushes over to the lid and both of them kneel down to the ground. They grab an end and she asks, "Ready? One…Two…three!" At the same time, they lift up the lid and flip it over. When it was over, Lettuce had to give the guys some credit that they were able to even push the lid off. It's heavy!

"Oh my," Keiichiro breathes out, looking at the inside of the lid now. Lettuce looks as well and she thought that her day could not get any more supernatural. Inside the lid is even more scratches. Compared to the wall that had some scratch marks here and there on the wall, there are scratch marks all over the lid, making the theory that this man was buried alive more convincing. Keiichiro then asks, "How could a man stay alive long enough to try and scratch his way out of his coffin when he has a stake puncturing his heart?"

Lettuce could only shrug her shoulders. "I don't know," she answers, her voice now high with fear. She thinks, _'I could only imagine what it must have been like for this man. To be in so much pain and then be sealed inside a coffin with snakes as company. He was probably screaming, pleading, and fighting his way to get out before he couldn't breathe anymore. His thoughts were probably that he was going to die soon and he didn't want to die. How could someone do something so horrible to this poor, poor man?'_

As Lettuce's eyes begin to travel around the lid, observing the scratch marks, she sees one more thing. "Keiichiro-nii!" she calls. He looks up at her and she points to an area on the lid. She asks, "Do you see something there?"

Keiichiro looks at the area she's pointing too and he blinks in surprise of what he's seeing. He sees carving, possibly made by the dead man inside the coffin and it's in ancient Japanese. "Yes," he answers, leaning over to examine the writing more closely. "There's writing here."

"What does it say?" she asks.

He looks up at her and he reminds, "Ancient Japanese isn't my forte, Lettuce."

"Please, Keiichiro-nii" she pleads, now sounding a little desperate. "If you read me the letters, I'll translate them." Keiichiro looks up at her for a moment longer before looking back at the writing. Like Pai, he tries to say the characters as clearly as he can and his rhythm is slow because of his least amount of experience with the language. Lettuce listens as carefully as she can and she starts mumbling the meaning, "'Death is my beginning, and my beginning will be his end.'" Hearing her, Keiichiro looks up at Lettuce in surprise of the message. Now Lettuce looks more nervous as she asks, "I-Is there more?"

Keiichiro shakes his head. "No." The two of them then look at the coffin, wondering what exactly happened to the man inside and possibly, the meaning of his words.

XxX

Outside, Pai steps out of the tunnel that leads to the shrine for the sun to shine on him and to allow the wind blow through his clothes and his hair. He takes in a deep inhale and exhales just as deep, taking in the fresh air of the forest. Then he leans against a tree besides him. He looks up at the sun above him and he sees that it's starting to set. The once blue sky is turning into shades of yellow, orange, and red from the sun and the color of red reminds Pai of those red eyes he saw.

Pai holds his forehead in his hand and he mumbles, "What exactly is happening on this island?"


	8. A Nightmare of Brothers

**A/N: Hi, hi guys!! Lettuce!**

**Lettuce: Here, Tsukiko-san.**

**Tsukiko: Pai!**

**Pai: I'm here.**

**Tsukiko: And Kisshu!**

**Kisshu: Right here!**

**Tsukiko: Sorry, Keiichiro-san but you're not needed in this chapter. But you will be in the next one.**

**Keiichiro: It's alright. I can wait.**

**Tsukiko: Oh and Kisshu! Congratulations. You now have more lines in this chapter.**

**Kisshu: It's basically all one word that I keep repeating over and over. Other lines that don't include me repeating that word over and over are when I'm supposed to be a kid!**

**Tsukiko: And you look so cute when you were kid too.**

**Taruto: And then look what happens.**

**Kisshu: What's that supposed to mean?!**

**Pai: The writer does NOT own TMM or the songs or the movies that she uses in her stories. She only comes up with the ideas and the changes for them. She would like to thank you for reviews that you have bestowed on her and she wishes for you to continue. She's grateful that you are all willing to spend your time reading her stories. Enjoy.**

**Lettuce: -blushing red- Tsukiko-san!!**

**Tsukiko: Yes?**

**Lettuce: I have to do what with Pai-san?! (Pai's eyes widen and then him, Kisshu, and Taruto look at the script to read the following.)**

**Tsukiko: You guys can tease each other later! Places everyone!! Kisshu! I need you to think of something absolutely devastating! You need to act like a tragic character in this and Pai! Try spraying yourself with a water spray to put on the sweating effect. Anyway! Lights…camera…action!!**

Ch. 7: A Nightmare of Brothers

_Start of Dream…_

"_Stop!"_

_Hearing that cry, the samurai does not swing his sword. He lowers it and turns around to see a priest stepping out from a temple behind him. The emperor, Emperor Sakana, looks at the priest in confusion of his appearance from his horse as two young male children, who are being held by two other samurais, look at the priest with a small bit of hope._

_Emperor Sakana asks, "Priest! Why do you stop me?"_

"_Because you must not kill them," he answers. He starts walking down the stairs of his shrine, with his staff in hand and his wise eyes staring at Emperor Sakana. "You do best not to anger the most feared god in all of Japan."_

_The emperor looks at the priest now in confusion as he asks, "And what god is that?"_

"_Not god, my emperor. God__**dess**__."_

_Still the emperor looks confused. He has a brow raised, waiting for the rest of the answer._

"_Among these two children, there is a descendent of Izanami, the goddess of death.," the priest then announces._

_Emperor Sakana gasps in pure shock as two young boys now look at the priest in confusion. Without another word, the priest then closes his eyes and his hand is reaching out as if he's looking for something. He starts walking to the two young children as if he is looking for something. The two boys stare at him, possibly thinking that this man is a really weird priest. Then out of the two boys, he places his head on top of the youngest one– the one with short green hair and amber golden eyes. The other one, the older one and the one with short purple hair and dark violet eyes, tries to pull himself way from his captor's hold but he holds strong. The younger boy closes his eyes from the touch of the priest's hand. Soon the priest opens his eyes and starts petting the younger boy's head. "This one is a descendent of Izanami. Placing such harm against him will greatly upset the goddess Izanami and your kingdom and your family will most regret it."_

_As Emperor Sakana looks at the priest in surprise and fear from the priest's word, the two boys are still confused. The younger one tries to lean his head over to the older boy and asks, "What is this priest talking about? How could I be a descendent of a death goddess?"_

_The older one tells him, "Just don't say anything, Kisshu. If we're lucky, the emperor will let us go."_

_When the emperor heard them, he looks at them, as if in a glare and then he looks at the priest. He asks, "If I take this boy under my wing as my ward, would the goddess of death spare me, my family, and my kingdom?" Hearing that, both boys widen their eyes in shock and horror._

_The priest nods. "As a way to atone for what you've tried to do to them, I would think so. Take the boy in and treat him as if he is your own."_

_The emperor then puts on a smug grin on as he says, "And then I will marry him to my daughter once he has become of age. The royal bloodline will not only have the blood of the sun goddess, Amaterasu Omikami, but the bloodline of the most feared goddess."_

_The priest closes his eyes as if thinking. He nods. "That is true, however," he says, "it will never come to be and it would be a bad combination if such a thing would happen."_

_The emperor still has his smug grin on his face. "I may believe in your pure powers, priest, but when I want something, I get it." Then he turns to the samurai and he orders, "Release the descendent of Izanami and bring him to me! Kill the other for their crimes." Hearing this, the boys became more scared and shock._

_Obeying orders, the samurai holding the youngest boy lifts him up from the ground and he starts struggling. "No!" he screams. "Let me go!!"_

"_Kisshu!" the oldest boy calls, struggling from his captor again. But he's no match to a strong samurai._

_The priest only watches as the samurai who was going to kill the two boys lifts his sword again. The oldest boy looks up at the sword and his eyes widen as it glistens in the sunlight. The samurai holding the youngest boy passes him to the emperor and Emperor Sakana holds the boy in front of him so that he may sit on the horse. But the descendent quickly looks at his friend and he sees the sword. He gasps at the sight of it as it thirst for blood and the feel of soft flesh._

_He turns to the emperor and pleads, "Please don't kill him! Please don't kill my brother!!" The boy basically has tears in his eyes as he pleads the emperor._

_Hearing him, the samurai does not swing the sword down. He looks at the boy in confusion as the emperor looks at him in the same way. "You're brother?" he asks._

_The priest then says, "They are not brothers of blood." Attention was turned to him as he says, "For I do not sense the powers of Izanami inside this boy as well. They are only brothers of companionship and trust."_

"_I see," the emperor says. Then he motions his hand to the samurai and says, "Continue."_

_The descendent looks at his 'brother' again and he gasps in horror of what it is to come. The older boy looks at him and then looks back up at the sword, now seeing death in the face. Quickly the descendent turns back to Emperor Sakana and yells, "If you do not spare his life, then I will die in your castle!" Everyone looks at him this time as the boy adds, "Rather it is by stabbing myself with chopsticks, throwing myself off a tower, strangling myself with a kimono, I will die! I promise you that, unless you release my brother and take him with us! I don't go anywhere without my brother!"_

_Now they are staring at him in surprise. Such daring nature he is showing in front of EMPEROR Sakana. Such manner would not be dealt with and any who show such disrespect would be killed immediately. As the emperor look at this boy before him, he can see that he knows that. The young boy in front of him is shaking in fear but he puts on a brave face, proving that his words are serious. After a moment, Emperor Sakana lets out a sigh and he orders, "Release him."_

_Hearing this brought a smile on the descendant's face. As ordered, the samurai release the older boy and that boy collapses on the ground. He lands on his hands to steady himself and he looks at his younger brother on the emperor's horse. When he sees the smile on his younger brother's face, he starts forming a small one as well._

_Then they hear, "But he will not come with us." The two boys gasp in surprise as now the descendant looks at the emperor. He says, "I have no reason to bring a filthy child into my home, even if it is a request from you, descendant of Izanami. His life is spared out of a whim." He pulls the reins of his horse and the horse steps back. Then he begins to turn it to leave, taking the younger boy with him._

_The younger boy quickly looks behind to his brother and he reaches for him. "No, brother!!"_

_The samurais quickly get on their horses and they start following the emperor as his horse starts to pick up speed. The older boy quickly gets up and he yells, "Kisshu!" Then he starts running._

_Hearing him, Emperor Sakana looks over his shoulder to see that boy running and he lifts the reins. "Heya!" he says, making the horse go faster. Following him, the samurais made their horses move faster and now they are starting to run farther and farther away from the older boy. Both boys screamed to each other one more time before either one of them were out of earshot and eye range._

"_KISSHU!!!"_

"_PAI-ONII!!!"_

_**Then the dream changes from that moment to another moment, one many years later. It was only for a moment but it had an image of the descendant looking much older. More like a man and he is being held down to his knees by samurai. He looks scared and desperate as he's screaming to a man who has his back turned to him. He was yelling at him to stop him from walking away.**_

"_Pai-onii! Help me! Please!! Pai-onii!!"_

"Mister? Mister, wake up!"

…_end of dream._

Pai wakes up to a start. His eyes snap open and his nostrils are flared as he pants. The moment he opens his eyes, he instantly lifts himself up into a sitting position. Because of his sudden action, Lettuce pulls herself back to give Pai some space to move. Pai breathes in from his nose and out his mouth. There are traces of sweat on his face and his hair looks damp with sweat. His eyes are wide and wild from what he just saw. He tries to calm down but his heart is still pumping hard and fast within his chest.

Finally, Lettuce calls, "Mister." Pai looks up to the side to her and she asks him, her eyes and her voice full of worry and concern, "Are you alright?"

When Pai looks at her, he suddenly remembers where he is and _when_ he's in. He's on Yomotsuhirasaka with a money desperate, card cheating man name Keiichiro Midorikawa and his book worm, yet pretty sister, Lettuce Midorikawa, along with a group of treasuring obsessive hunters in modern time. He's also in his tent right now and assuming from the lack of light in his tent, it's already dark and the only light is the glow of the campfire outside. When Pai looks at Lettuce, he feels calmer knowing this and he feels calmer with just having her here.

Pai lets out one more sigh of relief before relaxing his shoulders and answering, "I'm fine, Lettuce. It was just a dream."

"Not a very good one, I assume," Lettuce says, the worry and concern still in her voice and her eyes.

Pai says, "No it wasn't." Then he starts wondering why she's here in his tent. "Why are you here?"

As if being reminded of something, Lettuce's worry and concern disappears from her face and it's then replaced by realization. "Oh!" she says. Then she looks down at her lap and he looks down as well. On her lap, he sees a wooden stake with dry blood on it and skeletons of snakes, things he remembers seeing in the coffin they found. Lettuce says, "I made a closer analogy on our friend a-and…" she first picks up the wooden stake and she holds it as if she's going to stab Pai with it. He leans back because of how she's holding it. "this stake did _not_ kill him."

Pai looks a little confused. "Uh?"

"I-I mean that this wooden stake did not kill him." She picks up the skeletons of the snake and she says, "These did. This skeleton is the skeleton of a poisonous snake that has been extinct for hundreds of years. Their natural habitat was this island, I believe. Their poison was supposed to be so venomous that it immediately releases an agonizing wave of pain the instant the fangs pierce the flesh. The venom then starts to dull the pain and the victim would die a slow death. Sometimes only a small amount is enough to kill the strongest, biggest man in the world." When Pai hears this, his eyes widen when he remembers something. When he was first here and he found that shrine, he remembers snakes coming out of nowhere and killing about half of the men who were going to kill him in front of the shrine. How they die sounds a lot like how Lettuce just describes with these _extinct_ poisonous snakes.

"Are you sure that these snakes are extinct?" he asks, not believing it.

Lettuce looks at him confused as she answers, "Yes. Why? Is something troubling you?"

Pai looks at the skeletons a little longer and questions start to fill his head. He soon answers, "No. Not really." Lettuce can tell that he's not telling the truth but she can also tell that he doesn't want to talk about it right now.

"Well," she starts again. He looks back at her and she continues, "even though I said that a small amount of venom can kill a very strong and big man, but it appeared that our friend lasted longer than most victims." Then came another freaky moment. As she was going to describe the coffin, Pai starts seeing flashes as if he's seeing exactly what she's saying like he's right there witnessing it.

"He was bitten numerous times." Pai sees a man getting bitten by many snakes at different parts of his body and he screams with every bit of air in his lungs as the pain pulses through his veins.

"There were many, many scratches on the wall, but mostly the lip of the coffin like he was trying to dig his way out before he lost air or die in darkness." Pai sees the man panicking and trashing inside his coffin as he's scratching the lid. Sometimes his hands would miss and he would end up scratching the walls or he just scratched the walls on purpose. All the while, his main purpose was trying to break through the lid, some of his nails broken off his fingers and hardly leaving blood on the coffin; which is unusual.

"But despite the scratches, he left a message." As the man lies dying in the coffin, panting and his eyelids feeling heavy, ready to close forever, the man lifts his fingers up and he tries to scratch a message on the lid with the last of his strength.

"The message was very weird. It was 'Death is my beginning, and my beginning will be his end.'" Finally, Pai sees the man's hand collapse on his body and his eyes closed as his last breathe escapes his lips with one final word coming out as well.

"_Pai-onii."_

"Mister?"

Lettuce's voice snaps Pai back to reality. Lettuce puts the skeleton and the wooden stake down and she looks worried and concern again. Being hold, she grasps his hands as a sign of comfort and she asks, "Are you sure that you're okay?"

When Pai feels Lettuce's hands on his, her hands feel so warm and so soft as his are cold and clammy from not only his dreams but these visions too. Pai had to take a moment before slowly nodding his head. "I'm fine." _'Now,'_ he wanted to say but he kept that to himself. He looks up at her to meet her worried gaze but when he looks at her, her worried look changes to that of surprise that he's actually looking at her like right in her eyes. Her cheeks turn a slight hint of red.

After a moment of staring, Pai looks down at the ground and he sees the wooden stake. He asks, "If it was the snakes that killed him, then what's the wooden stake for?"

Being reminded of that, Lettuce loses her blush. "Oh!" She lets go of Pai's hands and grabs the stake again. She presents it to Pai and explains, "What was very unique about this was that whoever buried him was very clever to stab him in the area of the chest and not harm any organs of the body. They wanted him to feel suffer excruciating pain for reasons unknown to us."

"Maybe he betrayed Emperor Sakana," Pai suggests, "right?" Lettuce looks up at him and he says, "Or maybe the man we found is the reason why Emperor Sakana died."

"_**Pai-onii!"**_

'_That boy…'_ Pai wonders, first remembering the little boy from his dream and then the grown man who was pleading for help. _'Who exactly is he?'_

Lettuce, not noticing Pai's confusion, says, "Perhaps. History says that Emperor Sakana was murdered. Some believed that it was by his mistress, Ichigo because she committed suicide shortly after he died by stabbing herself. Our friend had a few broken bones like he was beaten and his cause of death may have been by the snake's venom, as I said."

Pai nods to that. "I guess," he says, sounding defeated only because he wasn't sure in the first place why he said that the man who died horribly in the coffin may have killed an emperor and got caught for it.

"However," Lettuce quickly adds. Pai looks back at her as she says, "This wooden stake actually proves to me that our friend died from a cremation ritual and the worst one of them all. One so terrible that no one has ever been bestowed upon, except for our friend in the shrine. The ritual is called the Kyuuketsuki ritual"

Pai raises his brow slightly up when he heard that. "'Kyuuketsuki?' As in 'vampire'?"

Lettuce looks at him, slightly surprise and she nods her head. "Yes. How did you know that?"

"I know a little bit of Japanese because I had to command a small group of them," he answers.

"Oh, I see," she lets out. "Well the wooden stake that was in our friend's body was meant to seal the vampire he will become if someone ever attempted to raise him from the grave. The wooden stake would keep him dead until someone pulls it out and then tries to bring him back. I guess you can say that the wooden stake is the seal to our friend if someone tries to bring him back from the death."

Pai looks at her for a moment before then asking, "Then why did you pull it out?"

"For examining the body and discovering the cause of death," she answers. "I said before that I don't believe in curses. I'm terrified of them, yes but I only believe them if I can see it and touch it. I also wanted to show you what we found since you left the shrine before us." Then she looks at him with worry and concern again. "Are you sure that you're alright, mister?"

He answers, "Yes, I'm perfectly fine. I'm only hungry right now."

Hearing that, Lettuce quickly tells him, "W-well dinner is almost ready. Keiichiro-nii is cooking our portion over the fire now. Mostly everyone is around the fire place since his food smells so good. You should come join us, mister. My older brother's cooking is the best in the world" A warm smile spreads across Lettuce's face when she said that. Pai stares at her smile for a little bit longer before doing anything else. Her smile is beautiful. Soon he lets out another sigh, this time for giving in.

"I will come," he answers. The smile brightens on Lettuce's face as he starts to stand himself up. He points to the wooden stake and the snake skeleton as he does that and he says, "Put those back. I rather be safe than sorry."

Lettuce looks down at the items in front of her. "Oh, o-okay." When he stands, she moves out of the way, allowing him to walk pass her. Then she stands up and follows him out of the tent.


	9. Awakening of the Kyuuketsuki

**A/N: Hello everyone!! Man, I'm on a role in these stories.**

**Pai: Now you just need to feel inspired for the other unfinished chapters, like 'You're a Girl.'**

**Kisshu: He just wants to have his moment with Lettuce, that's all. –Pai grabs Kisshu's throat and starts choking him-**

**Pai: Give me one good reason why I shouldn't break your neck.**

**Tsukiko: Pai, stop that! We need him for this chapter. Release him, now! –Pai releases Kisshu-**

**Kisshu: Man, Pai! I was only kidding.**

**Pai: Didn't sound like it.**

**Tsukiko: -Rolls eyes- Okay then, Lettuce?**

**Lettuce: Here!**

**Tsukiko: Keiichiro!**

**Keiichiro: Here, Tsukiko-san.**

**Tsukiko: Pai!**

**Pai: Present.**

**Tsukiko: Kisshu!**

**Kisshu: Coming! Hey, question! How come you had to call our names? We're right here you know.**

**Tsukiko: I know but it's a role call. I have to do it. Now then if I were you, I would go to a makeup artist before you come one. You need to look boney, remember and you need red contacts.**

**Kisshu: Those things make my eyes dry.**

**Tsukiko: Just deal with them a little longer. Soon, you will no longer need them.**

**Kisshu: Yeah, chapters later.**

**Tsukiko: Just be grateful that you have more lines in this one this time.**

**Keiichiro: Tsukiko-san does NOT own TMM or the songs or the movies that she uses in her stories. She only comes up with the ideas and changes. We would like to thank you for the wonderful reviews and please continue. She enjoys them to the fullest. Thank you and please enjoy.**

**Tsukiko: Now places guys!! Kisshu, hurry up and go to a makeup artist! Ready? Lights…camera…action!!**

Ch. 8: Awakening of the Kyuuketsuki

Norihiro takes a sip of Keiichiro's soup and his eyes widen in surprise of the taste. "Wow!" he exclaims, lowering the spoon. "That's the best thing I think I ever tasted in my life."

Keiichiro politely smiles and says, "Thank you."

Royal Highness still has the spoon to his lips and he looks like he's savoring the taste. "Exquisite," he comments once he was done. "The texture of the meat is very tender, the vegetables are not too soft and not too crunchy, and the base is perfection."

Blue Bayou looks stubborn as he comments, "Well your food is good but I still don't like you." Still Keiichiro smiles at them.

He says, "I am glad that you all like the food but I will say that after we're done here and we play poker again, I will think of you three as nothing more than banks." Blue Bayou glares at him for that but Royal Highness and Norihiro are distracted with finishing the soup the delicious soup.

Omi is with them as well and he's stuffing his face with Keiichiro's food. Within seconds, he finishes and he uses his sleeve to wipe his mouth. Then from the corner of his eye, he sees Pai coming out of his tent and holding the tent door open to let Lettuce come out. "Well, well, well," he says, getting everyone's attention. "Looks like someone just scored with the pretty girl."

Hearing that, they all turned around and they see Pai and Lettuce talking in front of the tent for a little bit before she nods and then turns around and walks away. Keiichiro sees the happy smile on her face and how much joy she has and it's all coming from a man that he does not trust. Then Pai turns to the others and he starts walking to them. Some of them looked away, either to finish their soup or to not put any attention on them for spying on him and Lettuce. Omi greets, "Hello, my dear friend! Had a good rest?" The way he said the last part made Keiichiro tempted to accidently pour boiling hot soup on his pants but he resisted, especially when Pai decided to sit in between him and Omi.

"More or less," Pai answers.

Keiichiro grabs a clean bowl and spoon and fills it up with soup. Pai looks at him, tiredly and Keiichiro passes him the bowl. He says, "It's beef vegetable. A common soup."

"But it doesn't taste common," Norihiro adds.

Pai accepts the bowl and he picks up the spoon to scoop it up. He blows on it before tasting it. He lowers the spoon and without a hint of emotion he comments, "It's good." He's more tired than he looks. He asks Keiichiro, "Why don't you own a café yet?"

"I do," Keiichiro answers. "Or I used to. Lettuce and I have money problems. I tried to start from scratch when I opened up a bakery but because of how it looked and the need of construction, it attracted no customers. So I tried gambling to keep it going but sadly I sold it before we went on this trip. I was hoping that what we might find will help with our debts, our bills, and such. Unfortunately, a recently looking mummy isn't exactly a gold mine."

Then Blue Bayou got cocky. "Well congratulations that you actually found something," he said. Pai and Keiichiro look at him as he goes to his pocket and shows the rogue that was discovered in the red chest. Keiichiro looks impressed, especially with the quality of the shell case. "We found a few things that might make us filthy rich."

Pai says, "I'm sure that the color looks good on you. Maybe you can pass for a drag queen when you return home." Pai takes another spoonful of soup and Blue Bayou glares daggers at him. Norihiro and Royal Highness ignore this, just as much as Pai is ignoring Blue Bayou. Keiichiro and Omi are the only ones who are staring at Blue Bayou in wide eyes from how dangerous he looks.

As Lettuce starts walking back to the stairs to go back to the shrine, she passes Yuebin's tent and the stuff he has outside of his tent. He has a tent outside his tent, a rug on the ground, a small table that's ankle length, and a bag against the table. When Lettuce walks by, she sees something shining at the corner of her eye. She stops and she looks to the side. Inside the bag, partially sticking out, she sees the silver scroll that his team also found in the chest. When Lettuce sees the scroll, her eyes widen in amazement as she examines it more. Then, she sees the carve design on the scroll. As she looks closer, she sees the designs that are the same as the one on the coffin and the one on the pendant Lettuce still wears around her neck and under clothes.

'_Is that what I think it is?'_ she wonders as she continues to stare at the scroll. Quickly, she looks up at the tent, the left, and the right to make sure that she's not being watched by any of the workers, the guys at the fireplace who she can still hear, and Yuebin who is probably inside his tent. Seeing that it's safe, she quickly rushes to the bag and she carefully and quickly pulls the scroll out without making a single speck of noise.

After the glaring, Omi nudges Pai's arm to get his attention and he asks, "I see that you've scored with the little bookworm, my friend." Lettuce walks away from the tent and she heard Omi talking to Pai. "I thought you told me that you don't like bookworms."

"I don't."

Hearing that, Keiichiro looks at Pai in surprise as Lettuce gasps like she was suddenly stabbed in the back by a knife. Pai adds, "Bookworms do nothing with their life besides read. Then they start thinking that people who never stepped foot in a library are below them. They become arrogant and cocky and they talk way too much. I hate people like that."

_Ba-dum_

_Ba-dum, ba-dum_

_Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum_

Lettuce can feel her own heart pounding really hard in her chest like it's going to burst out and run to the fireplace to burn itself to ashes. It didn't take long till she started running to the stairs of the Yomotsuhirasaka mountain. Some of the workers saw how fast she was running and stopped to stare at her.

Keiichiro took a different approach. He grabs Pai's shirt color and he pulls him to him, in a threatening way. The others look at him in surprise as Pai ends up dropping his bowl. Keiichiro looks ferocious as Pai still has no trace of emotion on his face. "How dare you say that!" Keiichiro says, his voice full of rage. "Who on this green earth gives you the right to say that about my sister?! You have no right to say that! Got that?!"

Pai answers, "I got you." He grabs both of Keiichiro's hand and he pulls them off his shirt. "And Lettuce is different from other bookworms that I've meet." Now they look at him in surprise as Pai bends down to pick up his bowl. "She has characteristics of a bookworm but she's kind and gentle. Does that sound like her?" Keiichiro only stares at her as Pai dusts off the sand on the bowl and then passes it to Keiichiro. "I would like more if that's okay."

Keiichiro took a moment, but he took the bowl. "Sure." Then he fills it up with more soup and passes it to Pai. He tries to regain himself after losing himself like that as Pai calmly returns eating.

XxX

Lettuce runs all the way to the passage where it leads to the shrine of the recent looking dead man and she has tears starting to cloud her vision. She runs inside the shrine, down the stairs, and to the coffin, only to collapse on the ground and lean against the coffin with her hands dropping her items and leaning against the wall of the coffin. There she starts sobbing. Her voice cries out in wails and tears the size of golf balls continuously roll down her cheeks. Her legs ache from running as hard as she could to get to the shrine and she's a little out of breath. Still she cries with her eyes shut together and her nose starting to run.

Soon, she opens her eyes and she tries to wipe away her tears with her sleeves. "Forgive me," she says to the man in the coffin. "I didn't mean to come in here and just start crying." She leans closer to the coffin as she would do if she was being held by someone and she says, "Maybe I'm shedding my tears over a silly matter but there's a guy that I like and now I think that he doesn't like me. I fear that maybe he hates me. I just thought that maybe…just maybe he was different than other guys. Someone who would really listen to me when I babble. I don't mean to babble, I just do and he hates that kind of person." Tears continue to fall down her face but she puts on a sad yet sweet smile as she says, "But you don't mind, do you? Funny. Earlier today, I was scared of you I must confess. You who looked like you died recently and you have left a disturbing message. I don't care if you did something so terrible that you deserved the Kyuuketsuki ritual. You've listened and it's weird but I feel like I can tell you anything. Like I've known you for years." After that, she starts giggling. If the man was alive, she can imagine him possibly giving her weird looks on what she just said. Saying that she was scared of him and now she feels like she can open up to him. He might think of her weird but in a good way, or that's how she imagines it.

After a bit, Lettuce pushes herself away from the coffin and she goes to her pocket. She takes out a handkerchief and she uses it to wipe away her tears and her running nose. She sniffs a bit before leaning her back against the coffin and taking a deep inhale and letting it out to calm herself down. She asks, "What did you do exactly? What did you do to deserve the Kyuuketsuki ritual? Did you really kill the Emperor Sakana? But surely, there were others who have betrayed or killed their emperor and not one received the Kyuuketsuki. What else did you do?"

There was silence between them. The dead cannot talk. Still, she felt like she should ask even though she will receive no answer. After that moment of silence, Lettuce looks back at the things she dropped and her eyes catch the silver scroll. "But look what our American's found." She reaches over to grab it and leans back against the coffin. Almost like someone is looking over her shoulder to look at the scroll, Lettuce holds it up and says, "It's the Scroll of Izanami, the scroll of death. Said to be made of pure silver as the Scroll of Izanagi, the scroll of life is made of pure black diamonds. Of course you already know that, but did you know that there were scholars who argued with the fact that the Scroll of Izanami is made of black diamonds and the Scroll of Izanagi is made of silver. I think they were trying to match the colors with life and death. White for life and black for death. I guess it was a silly argument." Then she starts giggling, an unhappy giggle.

Lettuce goes to her neck and she takes out the pendant from under clothes. While it's still around her neck, she places the pendant on the scroll. "You wouldn't mind if I open it, do you? Would anything bad happen?" She let a moment of silence pass before speaking again. "I think I should open it. What's the worst that could happen from reading a scroll?" Like what happened with the coffin, she turns the pendant in one direction once it was inserted and the key hole moved with the pendant. When it made a complete turn, there was a _click_ in the end. Lettuce stops turning and pulls the pendant away so that it may lean on her breasts. When she sees the stick against the scroll, she grabs it and pulls. The stick was connected to the paper inside the scroll. Because she unlocked it, she was able to pull it out easily. If she hadn't, she would have ripped the paper and will lost the chance to ever opening the scroll.

When Lettuce sees the ancient Japanese writing on the scroll her eyes are wide in astonishment and she lets out a long gasp in amazement. "This is amazing," she says, putting the scroll down. "These are incantations of moon and sun." She looks at the beginning and her hand starts trailing down each character as she begins to speak them out loud. _**"By the powers of the sun and the moon, I call upon the dead to arise from the ground and to take your revenge on those who have opposed you."**_

XxX

Yuebin comes out of his tent with a fresh new rob on and a cleaner smell. He walks over to his bag and he opens. He plans to take the scroll out and open it without any knowledge of how to open it properly. However, when he opens his bag and rummages through it, there is no scroll. Not believing this, he starts to frantically look through every inch of his bag. When he sees that it is really gone, he throws his bag to the ground and gets up. He turns to the works and he starts yelling Japanese to them.

"**Where is the scroll?"**

They answer back. **"What scroll?"**

Hearing the Japanese yells, the group around the fire place looks up and they see Yuebin yelling at the workers. He yells, **"The silver scroll that was in my bag! If any of you have stolen it, you all will be severely punished."**

"**We promise you that we didn't steal it."**

"**If you didn't steal it, then who did?!"**

Blue Bayou, not understanding, asks, "What the hell is he talking about?"

Being able to understand it, Keiichiro answers, "He's angry about a missing scroll of some kind." The others look at him and he says, "He believes that one of the workers may have stolen it."

"I don't see why not," Blue Bayou comments. "That thing is made of pure silver. Probably will twenty of the workers here a new house and a life insurance."

Hearing the description of the scroll, Keiichiro's eyes widen and he immediately asks, "Did you say 'pure silver'?"

Blue Bayou's brow is raise as he answers, "Yeah. Why?"

Keiichiro didn't answer. "You mean to tell me that you guys found the scroll of death? The Scroll of Izanami?" Now the three guys look confused by Keiichiro's question. Why is he asking like it's a life or death situation.

Royal Highness answers, "I believe that is what Yuebin called it. Why?"

"Excuse me."

The six men look up behind and they see Yuebin. He asks, "Where is that woman?"

XxX

"_**Fulfill the curse you have been given and sold your soul for,"**_ Lettuce continues as simply as if she's reading lines in a Shakespearian play. What she didn't realize as she continues the incantation is that the body inside the coffin begins to move. _**"The time has come…"**_ First his finger twitches and then his whole hand started to close in to a fist before opening again. _**"…to finish unfinished business."**_ His eyes begins to open like he's waking up from a peaceful sleep and they're red. _**"Damn this world and rule this land as the bringer of death of this world."**_ At the end of the incantation, the dead man's eyes closed and suddenly shot open and he grits his teeth. His whole body tenses up, his back arches up and his hands looked like claws. After a few seconds, he lets out a very monstrous and loud roar.

Hearing him roar, Lettuce jumps up from the ground and gets on the other side of the scroll. She turns around, her heart suddenly beating very hard and very fast. She stares at the coffin in confusion of what she just heard and fear. The only things between her and the coffin are the snake skeleton, the wooden stake, and the Scroll of Izanami. The pendant still rests on her chest as Lettuce takes slow and small steps towards the door.

She wonders, "What the…?"

XxX

At the bottom of the mountain, everyone heard that roar. Some jumped from the sound but all of them sharply turned to the mountain and they see birds flying out of the trees. They were all surprised by the sound, but Yuebin looks horrified.

"Oh god," he mumbles. The camp fire people look at him as he says, "She has damned us all."

"Uh?" Keiichiro lets out, confused by what this man just said about his sister.

_Swoosh_

Then the wind suddenly picked up. It started from the mountain and it hit those below hard towards the ocean. The wind felt like a tornado wind as it pulls some of the tents out of the ground and into the water along with some bags. Some of the people that were too slow to react ended up being flown into the water while others tried to brace themselves from the wind by holding on to something or getting low to the ground, people like Pai, Keiichiro, Blue Bayou, Yuebin, Royal Highness, and Norihiro who grasped onto the logs they were sitting on. When Omi got hit, he didn't react fast enough and almost went flying.

"Aaaaahhhh!" he screams in the air. Hearing him, Pai reaches up and grabs Omi's ankle. Omi looks down at Pai when he saw that he was caught and he gratefully smiles. "Oh thank you, my friend! Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Pai tells him, "ever."

Then the wind died down, just suddenly. Omi fell to the ground because of the sudden stop. Most people didn't pay attention to him. They were trying to sit back up again. Blue Bayou's hair is a complete mess as he asks, "What the hell just happened?"

Royal Highness started to straighten his hair as he said, "The wind was most unnatural."

"And what was that roar?" Norihiro asks, a bit nervous now.

XxX

As Lettuce continues to watch the coffin in fear and confusion, something suddenly happened that made her eyes bigger than her own glasses and her eyes smaller than a button on a shirt. A dried up, skinny hand shots out of the coffin and grasps the edge of the coffin. Lettuce gasps when she sees that as another hand rises up and grasps the other edge. Then slowly, the arms lift up the rest of the body. Lettuce never saw anything more terrifying than this in her life. The body that she was sure was dead and has been dead for hundreds of years is moving right in front of her. Soon the body is sitting up with his head facing the ground and his mouth partially open. Because of his mouth being open, Lettuce can see the extra long canines he has and how it's peeking out from his mouth. He was just sitting there, breathing in from his nose and out from his mouth, his lungs burning with each breathe he took after the inactive use of his lungs for hundreds of years. What Lettuce didn't realize was that right at that moment, Kisshu, descendant of Izanami and now the most terrifying and dangerous Kyuuketsuki on the face of the planet, has now risen up from the dead.

"You are…" she whispers, her voice hardly heard. But it appeared that he heard her. For he stopped panting to get air in his lungs again and he just sat there.

Then all at once, his head sharply turns to look at her with his red eyes wide and to Lettuce, very, _very_ scary. She couldn't help but scream.

"!!!!!!!!!"

Quickly, she turns around and sprints into a run. As fast as she could, she runs up the stairs, out of the shrine, out of the pathway in the forest, and into the other parts of the forest on the other side of the stairs. She didn't think, she just ran as fast and as hard as she could away from the now alive Kyuuketsuki. He, at first, did not pursue her.

Kisshu simply watch her scream and run. A reaction that should be expected. He's been dead for hundreds of years so anyone would probably scream when they see a moving corpse. After Lettuce left, his eyes closed about half way and he starts panting again like he's in pain and he is. His throat burns and it pulses with the yearning for blood. He feels like if he does not quench this thirst, the pain will not stop. He needs to drink blood, blood of the men who now smell like cherry blossoms and water lilies.

XxX

"!!!!!!!!!"

Now hearing her scream, the guys look back up at the mountain, Keiichiro and Pai suddenly feeling very anxious about Lettuce.

"Lettuce!" Keiichiro calls, pushing himself up and starting to run to the stairs. Pai didn't hesitate to do the same thing.

Omi calls, "Mumei! Where are you going?!"

"Uh, g-guys…" Norihiro calls, shakily. Hearing him, his friends turn around to what he's looking at and he's looking at the beach. When they see it, their eyes widen.

What they see before them is that all of the water is being pulled back. They see it being pulled back farther and farther away. Their eyes watch them and follow them, until they see a small waving coming at them. But as the wave gets closer and closer to them, the wave is actually big, really big.

Yuebin yells, "Tsunami!"

Then they got up and started running after Pai and Keiichiro. Blue Bayou yells, "Let's get the hell out of here!!" They start running as that wave comes closer and closer and the workers started running too.

As Pai and Keiichiro pass the Shinto entrance to go to the stairs, they stopped instantly. Pass the Shinto entrance is a whole group of snakes, maybe about thirty or forty of them and they are continuously biting on workers who were trying to run from the tsunami. There are even some snakes on the stairs and now they're hissing at Pai and Keiichiro. What confused Keiichiro the most is the face that these snakes are very poisonous and only one kind of snake lives here and are like that.

He asks, "How is this possible? These snakes are supposed to be extinct!"

Pai shakes his head. "I saw them the last time I was here."

"What?!" Keiichiro looks at him in surprise and then they hear screaming behind them.

The look over their shoulders and they see a four story tall tsunami coming down and landing on the ground, consuming the tents and workers that were unlucky. Pai and Keiichiro see Blue Bayou, Royal Highness, Yuebin, Norihiro, Omi and some of the workers being lucky and running as fast they can to them.

Blue Bayou screams, "Run, you sons of bitches! Run!!"

"Time to jump," Pai says seeing the wave. Before Keiichiro new it, Pai grabs him and tosses him over the snakes and on the stairs. Keiichiro lands with some bruises that are going to show up later, but at least he was able to avoid the snakes. Then Pai takes a few steps back and jumps over the snakes as well. He landed closer to the snakes though and some got a good shot at his foot but he quickly pulls it away and he starts running up the stairs. Keiichiro quickly lifts himself up and follows Pai up.

When the other five arrive, some of the workers were ahead of them and were unable to stop running once they saw the snakes. The five of them did as two workers landed in the swarm of snakes. The five guys watch as the workers screamed and snakes bite them with their venomous fangs. They watch as those men collapsed on the floor and they began to die with the amount of venom that they received. Then they look behind and that water is coming fast. Royal Highness then looks at the side where the forest is and he doesn't see snakes there.

"Quickly, this way!" he tells them. He starts running to the forest and the others followed him; first Blue Bayou, Yuebin, Omi, and then Norihiro. Avoiding the snakes and going up, they avoided the water as it crashes into the steps and took some of the snakes and the bodies with them, also causing many of the workers to drown.

As they're running up the mountain by climbing it, Blue Bayou asks, "What the hell is going on here?! Where did those snakes come from?! I thought they were extinct!"

Royal Highness asks, "You want to stop and ask?!" After that, they just kept on running, running up the mountain and running up to the path that leads to Kisshu's shrine.

XxX

Keiichiro follows Pai, since he's the more expert on these kinds of situations, up the stairs and they turn to the path way to where the shrine is. Pai remembers Lettuce coming up there to return both the snake skeleton and the wooden stake in Kisshu's coffin. They turn to where the path way is and they run into the shrine.

Keiichiro asks, "Are you're sure she's here?"

Pai answers, "I'm sure."

They enter the shrine, run down the stairs, and they entered the coffin room. But when they arrive at the door frame, they stop. They don't see Lettuce inside, only the opened coffin, a crushed skeleton on the ground, and pieces of the once wooden stake. They don't see the scroll that Lettuce also left behind.

"Well, where is she?" Keiichiro asks.

Pai answers, "Obviously not here. She must have left and stepped on them by accident." Though Pai is having hard time believing the last part. It might be possibly to crush the skeleton but he can't figure out how the wooden stake was crushed as well. "Come on." He turns around and runs back out. "She probably ran into the forest on the other side."

What neither of them noticed was that the coffin they left in that room is empty. There is no body lying in it or sitting in it.

XxX

When they reach the path after Pai and Keiichiro already left to the forest on the other side of the stairs, Blue Bayou, Royal Highness, Yuebin, Omi, and Norihiro didn't stop to see it. They ran right pass it, pushing bushes and trees aside to continue running, as if the snakes followed them and are right at their heels. But they didn't run too far past the pass when Norihiro didn't watch where he was running. He trips over a tree root and from the force of his running, he ends up twisting his ankle. He pushes himself up and yells, "Wait!"

The only one who heard him was Omi. He stopped for a moment to look back and he sees Norihiro on the ground. He could have run back and helped him get up and live to see another day, but he decides to turn back around and keep running. He thinks that if he stops and helps Norihiro, he might die for it. Soon, Norihiro was left alone in the forest with a twisted ankle and weird, unnatural things are happening all around him.

Norihiro looks back at his ankle and he gently touches it. He flinches and winces from the pain of it. "Great," he mumbles. "What do I do now?" He looks around for anything that could be of use to him. He does see a tree with branches within his reach that he could use to lift himself up and some long enough for him to snap off and use as a cane.

And that is exactly what he did. He crawls his way to the tree, without causing much harm to his ankle, and he grabs the branches. He lifts himself up from the ground until he was in standing position. He holds his leg up, the one with the twisted ankle, and he grabbed one of the long branches. He starts pulling on it to break it off the tree as something moves in shadows of the forest. He didn't see or hear it and his grunting muffles out the sounds of someone body sniffing the air. Norihiro pulls on the branch one more time and it snapped but because of the force he used to snap the branch, he ended up falling on the ground again.

"Ow!" he lets out, landing on the ground and now his ankle hurting more. "God damn it!" he curses. He flips himself over so that he's lying on his belly and he lifts himself up. "Oh great. Now I sound like Blue Bayou." Then he feels hands under his arms and lifting him up.

"Uh?"

Norihiro is confused as whoever picked him up lifts him up into a standing position without any trouble at all like he was a doll. Once he was standing up, he lets out a sigh of relief and a small smile appears on his face. "Oh thank you," he says. He was going to turn around to look at the man who helped him, but then suddenly he feels those same hands grab his arm and he felt two sharp pains on his neck. All at once, a wave of pain rushed through him, starting from the throat.

"AAAAHHHH!!!!"

XxX

"AAAAHHHH!!!!"

Hearing him scream, Lettuce stops running and turns around to where she heard the scream. "What was that?" she wonders, forgetting that she running from a moving corpse.

_Hssssss_

Hearing the sound of snakes, Lettuce looks down and she sees two snakes by her feet. "Ah!" She jumps away in surprise and they hiss at her again, baring fangs that are dripping with venom.

"No, it can't be possible," she mumbles, walking away from the snakes that are approaching her. "You're supposed to be extinct! How can you be alive now?!" she asks. But animals cannot talk back.

Lettuce soon has her back against the wall and the snakes are slowly slithering toward her, enjoying the fear that they can smell from her body. She lifts one leg up as if she's being encountered with a bug and she's shaking in fear. If those snakes bite her, end of story. She will die a slow, painful death. The snakes are right at her feet and she closes her eyes as she can already hear the snakes opening their mouths and revealing their fangs.

"_Enough!"_

The snakes stopped like trained dogs and Lettuce opens one eye when she hears that. When she sees a figure in the darkness, she hears that same person speak in ancient Japanese. _"She is off limits."_

After that, the snakes turn around and slither away, leaving Lettuce with their master. Lettuce watches them leave and once they were out of sight, she puts both feet on the ground and relaxes her tension. She turns to the figure and she tells him, "Oh, thank you. If it weren't for you, I-" But the figure moved by coming out from the shadows and into the light of the moon. She sees her savor and it's the man who just lifted himself out of the coffin, Kisshu. "Aaaahhh!" she screams at the mere sight of him. First she was scared of the snakes, now she's scared of the walking corpse in front of her that she remembers having extra long fangs.

Lettuce has her back up against the tree again as Kisshu walks towards her, his eyes examining her like he sees something familiar but he can't figure it out why. When Lettuce sees this man before her, she notices something different about him. She sees that his flesh is not as boney as when she first saw it but it's hardly a noticeable change. What is noticeable is the fact that his once red eyes are now a faded out color of red.

"Oh god," Lettuce breathes out as he comes closer and closer to her. Then she repeats the word in a fast pace. "Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god."

Then Kisshu stops. He's only a few steps in front of Lettuce and he looks a bit confused. Then he asks, _"Chisha?"_ Lettuce became confused by the name. She knows that 'Chisha' actually means her name, 'Lettuce' but how does he know her name?

Soon, Kisshu's confused eyes relax as he says, _"No. Ichigo…"_

Now she is really confused. Lettuce's fear is then replaced with confusion as she asks, "Excuse me?"

Kisshu only smiles at her, now surprising Lettuce and dissolving her fear. His smile looks so warm and so loving. He takes a step towards her and she leans back against the tree a bit in caution. He still smiles at her as his hand rises up to her face. The back of his hand gently brushes against the skin of her cheek, causing her to blush at the contact, and he tells her, _"You have no reason to be afraid. Come with me, my princess Ichigo and I will take you away from fear."_

Soon coming up, Pai and Keiichiro continue running in their pursuit to find Lettuce. They're getting closer and closer to where she is now and they're actually starting to see her form. Pai sees her and gasp in surprise as Keiichiro calls for her.

"Lettuce!!" he screamed, but she acts like she didn't hear him. She's enchanted by someone in front of her who has his hand on her face. When Pai sees that, he doesn't hesitate to grab a shuriken and throw it. The shuriken, taking Kisshu off guard, hits his wrist.

"Ah!" he yells, pulling his wrist back and holding his arm in pain as he steps away from Lettuce. Like she just woke up from a trance, Lettuce looks at Kisshu in surprise and at Pai when he finally arrives by her side.

"Lettuce," he calls, his voice almost a whisper. She looks up at him and he asks, "Are you alright?"

_Swoosh_

_Ching_

To both Lettuce's and Pai's surprise, Pai's shuriken flew right in between them and hits the tree without slicing either of them. They look up at the shuriken that flew right in front of their eyes and stare at it. Kisshu stands up straight and his hand is up, proving the fact that he was the one who threw the shuriken at them and the wound on his arm is gone with only a few drops of blood to prove that he was wounded.

Then Keiichiro finally catches up but he became unable to run to his sister. He saw Kisshu as well and he stopped dead in his tracks at the mere sight of him. "What the…?" he lets out when he stops and sees the standing corpse he saw earlier today. "Impossible! How can he still be alive?"

At first, Kisshu was glaring at the one who hurt him but when both Pai and Lettuce decide to look at the direction the shuriken came from, Pai's eyes widen when he sees him and Kisshu's eyes widen up in surprise as well. He asks, _"Pai-onii?"_

When Pai hears that, his eyes widen as well because he only knows one person who says that; the little boy who saved his brother's life and was abandoned by his brother. All Pai did at the moment was stare at him and Kisshu did the same to him. Pai didn't know what to say to a corpse who might be mistaking him for someone else, even though his name is the same. Kisshu on the other hand found his words and he first put a smile on his face.

"_Now this is something,"_ Kisshu says in ancient Japanese. Both Keiichiro and Pai didn't understand him, but Lettuce did. _"To think that I would see you again after hundreds of years and you don't even know who I am."_ Lettuce looks confused when she hears this and soon Kisshu started laughing. He just burst out laughing like an uncontrollable maniac. Only two words can describe this: weirdo Kyuuketsuki.

Getting a bit weirded out with the fact that there is a moving corpse and he's laughing for reasons unknown to Pai, he goes to his pocket to get something quietly and sneaky. Lettuce sees him move and looks down to see that he's taking out the sutras she remembers seeing in the train. Pai mumbles, "These better work." In a split second, he throws one at Kisshu. Seeing that, he stops laughing and when the sutra hits him, everyone sees lightning coming from the sutra and surrounding Kisshu. He felt it when his eyes were wide and his teeth gritted against each other.

"AAAAAAHHHH!!!" he screams, before falling on the ground with the sutra sending him waves of pain throughout his body.

Since he's distracted, Pai grabs Lettuce's hand and tells her, "Go!" She only had time to look up at him before he starts running back and she gets pulled along. When they pass him, Keiichiro turns around and follows them.

When they were gone, Kisshu grabs the sutra and rips it off. In the air, the wind suddenly went really fast and really sharp. It cut the sutra to pieces. _"You're such a meanie, Pai-onii,"_ he says, lifting himself up. He looks up the way they ran and he says, _"You're lucky that I want to kill you too for what you did."_


	10. Doomed Us All

**A/N: Hey guys!! I'm back!**

**Kisshu: Finally!! When you start something, finish it!!**

**Tsukiko: In case you haven't noticed, I've been unleashing chapters at least every three days!**

**Kisshu: Yeah to that Rated M story, 'I Know Your Face'!**

**Taruto: Can't complain that it's good, Kisshu. It may not have many reviews, at least two to a chapter, but those who read it seem to like it.**

**Pai: It might be because not many people read rated M.**

**Tsukiko: -shrugs shoulders- Oh well. Let's just be grateful that I'm unleashing any chapters at all at this point. Alright then, roll call! When I call your names, get your script! Lettuce!**

**Lettuce: Here, Tsukiko-san!**

**Tsukiko: Keiichiro!**

**Keiichiro: Thank you.**

**Tsukiko: Pai!**

**Pai: Present.**

**Tsukiko: Ryou!**

**Ryou: Finally. I thought I'll never come in.**

**Tsukiko: A 'thank you' would be nice. –glares at him for a bit– And Kisshu!**

**Kisshu: Are you going to finish this story or not?**

**Tsukiko: We'll just have to wait till how I feel about it at the time. I am in a bit of 'The Mummy' mood so we'll see. Anyway, I do NOT own TMM or the songs or the movies I use in my stories. I only come up with the changes and ideas for them. I am so sorry for not updating this chapter in a while and this chapter might not be the best thing but I haven't been in the mood for 'The Mummy' since the last time I've updated and I'm starting to now! I just needed a break, I think. Thank you all for the lovely reviews and please keep them coming!**

**Alright, characters!! Hurry up and get into your places!! Kisshu, quick! Make-up artist, NOW!! Alright! Lights…camera…ACTION!!!**

Ch. 9: Doomed Us All

Pai pulls Lettuce back to the stairs and down with Keiichiro following. They didn't think about the fact that there is possibly five feet of water down at the beach, their boats are destroyed, and there are possibly poisonous snakes everywhere. They only thing they thought about was getting away from that walking corpse because by far, that's the most dangerous, supernatural thing on this island! But as they arrive closer and closer to the end, men dressed in black suddenly appear like ghosts and they blocked their path with guns in hand. Pai, Lettuce, and Keiichiro stop running when they see them.

Keiichiro goes to Pai and asks, "Please tell me that you got a way out of this."

Pai tells him, "I have one gun and the rest is either swords, daggers, or shuriken. Our only option is to stay still."

Before this line of black men and guns, another man in black comes out from the forest and he steps before the line. When he looks up at them as he stands up, the first thing they see is his sky blue eyes. Pai remembers those eyes the last time he was here as well. That man has a mask on his face and he pulls the clothe down that was hiding his mouth and nose. When Lettuce and Keiichiro see him, they gasp in surprise.

"Ryou-san?!" Lettuce asks.

Pai looks over his shoulder at them as Keiichiro asks, "What the heck are you doing here with these guys?! They're the guys that tried to kill us on the train!"

Ryou simply answers, "I was hoping that they would prevent you from coming here without killing you. Convince you that coming to Yomotsuhirasaka is too dangerous and to steal that pendant." He points to the necklace on Lettuce's neck to prove his point. Lettuce grabs the pendant to hide it from them and Pai stays closer to her to protect her. "But because you three have ignored that, you may have killed us all by unleashing the monster we tried to seal away."

Pai tells him, "I took care of him."

"You think that those pitiful sutras that you buy with money is going to stop him. It may have hurt him but he is not done. No mortal weapon can kill him." Ryou looks to the right side of the forest and he motions his head to the left. When Pai, Lettuce, and Keiichiro look they see men forcing down Blue Bayou, Royal Highness, and Yuebin to the ground.

Blue Bayou pushes himself up and he yells, "I am going to shot every one of you, assholes!!"

Royal Highness sits up and he raises his hands in defeat before asking his friend, "Who has the guns?" Blue Bayou glares at him for that.

Then Ryou looks to the left and he motions his head to the right. This time when men came out, it was only three and two of them were carrying something. One man was carrying the closed Scroll of Izanami and the other man is holding an unconscious and rather pale Norihiro. When the others see him, they gasp in how pale he looks and how shallow his breathing sounds. What they all noticed about him was the bite marks he has on his neck. The men holding Norihiro and the scroll walks towards Blue Bayou's group and they pass Norihiro to Blue Bayou and Royal Highness as they pass the scroll to Yuebin. Royal Highness and Blue Bayou look down at their barely alive friend before looking up at Ryou's group.

"You bastards," Blue Bayou curses.

Royal Higness asks, "What did you do to him?"

"We saved him before that monster killed him and regenerated," Ryou answers. He looks up at Lettuce's group and says, "That monster is a terrifying blood-sucker and I advice all of you to leave now before he kills you all." He turns to his comrades and he says in Japanese, **"Lower your weapons. We're leaving!"** They remove their guns and start walking down the stairs where Pai and the others notice is a bunch of boats. Some got on and started to leave until there is only three left, one for Ryou and part of his group, Pai's group, and Royal Highness's group. Ryou tells them, "We must go and find a way to kill him. Farewell." Then he turns around and starts walking down the stairs.

Then Lettuce gets in front of Pai and calls, "Ryou-san!" Ryou stops and attention is turned to her but Ryou does not turn around. She asks, "If we didn't bring him back from the dead today, would you have killed us in our sleep?" Then attention is turned to Ryou, waiting for his answer. He did not answer for a moment. But when he did, he turned around to face Lettuce.

"Yes."

Lettuce's eyes widen and they start to shine with tears. After that, Ryou just turns around and walks down to the boats.

XxX

The only reason why Omi wasn't with Yuebin's group when they were captured was because of his stopping to see Norihiro on the ground. When he caught up with the others, he saw the black men and how they surrounded Blue Bayou, Royal Highness, and Yuebin. Lucky for him, no one really noticed him. So like the coward he is, he ran away deeper into the forest without raising a finger to help the people who hired and paid him.

He possibly ran around the whole mountain. He didn't turn and he didn't encounter any of the poisonous snakes. He just kept going straight until he thought he was far enough away. When he stopped, he leans on his knees and tried to get some air back in his lungs again. His lungs burn for the air and his legs ach. He breathes in and out through his mouth and sweat drips from his brow to his chin to the ground. After a few moments, he lets out a chuckle.

"I think I lost them."

_Snap_

Hearing that causes Omi's body to tense up in fear and then he stands up straight while getting the gun from his side belt. He points it before him when he turns towards the snapping noise. "Wh-Who's there?!" he asks, scared and nervous as all hell.

But there's no answer.

_Crush_

Hearing the sound of someone stepping on grass behind him causes Omi to turn around and point the gun to that direction. He doesn't see anybody and soon he hears a noise from his side. He hears someone breathing heavily. He points the gun in that direction and he still doesn't see anybody.

"I said who's there?!" he yells. "Show yourself or I'll shoot!"

Yeah, like that's gonna work. Omi can't see with the dark figures of the forest pulling off all different kinds of shapes.

When he didn't receive an answer and many minutes pass in total silence, he lowers his gun and tries to relax. His hand with the gun lay against his side and his breathing even again. He takes a few steps back before turning around to be on his way. Problem, someone is then right in front of him.

"Aahh!" he screams, dropping his gun and taking steps back. Thanks to the light of the moon, he sees the boney features, and the extremely dry skin of Kisshu's body. He stands before him with analyzing eyes and his mouth is partially open, allowing Omi to see the fangs in his mouth. "Oh my god." Omi takes steps back, away from Kisshu and he takes steps towards him, still looking him up and down.

Omi's back soon hits the trunk of a tree and he tries to say. "Okay, you're a walking corpse. This place really is cursed." Kisshu takes a few steps towards him and that causes Omi's legs to start shaking uncontrollably. Even if he wanted to control them, he couldn't. "L-l-look! I t-tried to tell them not to come here and disturb your island but they wouldn't listen to me! No one listens to me! Their names are Blue Bayou, Royal Highness, Norihiro, and Yuebin! Along with Pai, his girlfriend, and her brother!"

"_Pai-onii?"_

Omi looks at Kisshu in surprise when he said that. But before he could ask, Kisshu leans close to Omi. Omi widens his eyes, freaking out before closing them out of fear that Kisshu would bite his neck. But all he does is take a whiff of his scent to see if he has the water lilies and cherry blossom smell. He doesn't.

"_You know my brother?"_ he asks, pulling away from Omi and taking a few steps away as well to give him some room. Omi stares at him, in even more in surprise. _"Do you understand what I am saying?"_

Quickly, Omi nods. "Y-Yes." He clears his throat and then he starts speaking ancient Japanese. _"D-did you say that P-Pai is your brother?"_

Hearing him speak his native tongue, Kisshu couldn't help but put on a satisfied grin on his face. _"Well he was but soon he'll be dead. Do you wish to assist me?"_ He raises his hand and says, _"The rewards would be great."_ He opens his hand and jewels of different colors and shapes fall from his hand as if he produced them himself. Omi quickly catches all of them and he stares at their beauty at the palm of his hands. Then he looks from the jewels to up at the vampire before him with rather wide, disbelief eyes.

Help the vampire kill Pai? The man who endured him all the years, the one who always saved his butt when he doesn't deserve it, and the one who trusted him with his real identify when he had no reason to? All for a handful of jewels and riches?

"_What do you want me to do, my prince?"_

Kisshu stares at the man for a moment with a blank expression before grinning. He asks, _"Tell me again the names of those who opened the chest!!"_

XxX

Pai rows the boat with a paddle in each hand and rowing with all his strength to get back to the country village, a lake of water away from Yomotsuhirasaka. Trailing behind is the boat that carries Blue Bayou, Royal Highness, Yuebin, and Norihiro who is in need of immediate medical attention. Yuebin is checking to see how bad Norihiro's condition is while Blue Bayou and Royal Highness is rowing the boat as fast and fanatic as they can. The ninjas as well as Ryou are long gone.

Keiichiro, who holds Lettuce in his arms like the big brother he is, rubs Lettuce's arm and pets her head in comfort as she asks, "Are you alright, Lettuce?"

"Yeah," she answers, her voice small and barely a whisper. "I'm fine, Keiichiro-nii."

Keiichiro kisses her head and he holds her a little tighter. "Don't worry. We'll get out of here and it'll be over."

Even though he said that to put Lettuce's nerves at ease, they both know as well as Pai that it's all far from over.


End file.
